The Doctor Is In
by HateIsRealAndItIsMe
Summary: Will Solace and Nico Di Angelo have been living happily together for a year in New York City. When Will finds himself getting a job working for Miss Potts, both find struggles hiding their demigod tendencies from the observant woman and her cohorts. But what is going on with the unusual robberies and increased criminal activity in New York City? How are the monsters involved?
1. Chapter 1

**YO IT'S HATE HERE WITH ANOTHER STORY**

 **Since I've been sick over Winter Break, I took a bit of time to myself and decided to play around with the idea of a Percy Jackson and Avengers crossover. I will be continuing updating this and my 'Can You Help' story because I enjoy writing multiple things at one time, so updates will come for the both of them!**

 **Review please! I love hearing criticism and ideas from everyone! Questions and prompts should be asked through private messaging, but if you don't have an account than you can just do it through reviews!**

 **Without further ado, let's get started!**

Will Solace prided himself in his patience.

It was necessary for a doctor to be patient. A doctor had to wait to assess situations, had to wait to get information, and had to be patient with themselves. Patience and a level head is what it takes to be a great doctor when one doesn't want to kill their patient on accident.

But let's say Will has been having a bad day. The kitchen sink in his apartment was clogged in the morning, on the way to Camp Half-Blood the taxi he was in got a flat tire, and now he had to help heal three campers who decided that maiming each other in capture the flag was the best option they had. On top of all of this, he hadn't seen his boyfriend in the past two days. Will was not in the mood to deal with three preteens who couldn't keep their swords to themselves.

Two were already sent on their way back to their respective cabins when Will turned to the last one of the group, a son of Athena who was as hotheaded as a son of Ares. The other two were luckier; a few fractures and some scrapes. This kid decided that, hey, having a spear thrown at his shoulder would be great fun. Not only was it painful for the kid in front of him, but Will was on his last nerve with the brat, who only seemed to complain about Will's doctoring skills. The nineteen year old didn't need to hear such grievances from a small kid who looked like he was 90 pounds soaking wet.

So, Will tugging a bit too harshly on the bandages didn't seem that too unreasonable in the son of Apollo's eyes. The kid only cursed and made a snide remark about how if Will tugged any harder, his arm would fall off. Too which Will shoved a piece of ambrosia in the injured kid's mouth to shut him up and tugged once more on the stray white bandage before tying it off.

Soon, the infirmary was empty, and Will began filling out paperwork, something Chiron required to keep track of various injuries just in case any therapy was needed, or if something was unknowingly poisoned. The son of Apollo was able to access every camper's file and was able to add anything to it that may be needed in the future.

He quickly got out the many medical reports of the day and began signing them, verifying that yes the campers got the treatment they needed. A small nameless tune escaped his lips as he hummed a nonsensical melody to pass time. The lights above him flickered, as well as the rest in the building before the corners of the infirmary grew darker and darker.

Normally, this would scare the piss out of anybody with any common sense. But to Will, it was a welcome distraction, especially when said distraction snuck up behind him and wrapped his arms around him just to plant a small kiss on the side of his head. The blond grinned and set down his paperwork and pencil on a nearby bed to turn around and see his boyfriend smirking at him.

Nico Di Angelo, a normally patient man, was very impatient when it came to going back home to fix the sink. He would've raced back to their apartment to fix it as soon as Will IM'd him about it, but figured that they could wait until after Will came to camp to see him again. The son of Hades had been staying at Camp Half Blood much more often since Percy and Annabeth had left for their honeymoon, determined to keep the kids in shape by training them until they collapsed. So his boyfriend coming to Camp made Nico a very happy demigod; especially since they could finally just go home together and relax.

Two freckled hands wrapped themselves around Nico's waist, who gave a small smile at the gesture, "Neeks, I still have a bit of paperwork to do, give me a few more minutes and then we can go home, okay?" Will chuckled as Nico buried his face in the crook of his boyfriend's neck, "Hey, Clarisse is taking care of training for the next couple of days, right?" A somewhat affirmative grunt left Nico's mouth, so Will kept talking, "When we get home, you can fix the sink and I'll make some popcorn and we can watch a movie before going to bed. But you have to let go so I can finish."

Nico reluctantly let go.

He sat himself on the edge of a bed, watching as Will took notes on various papers. The son of Apollo would occasionally shake his head at his siblings' work and erase the marks made before adding his own. The funniest bits that Nico adored was when Will would quietly curse the horrible curse of doctor's handwriting, since he couldn't read his own siblings'. It didn't take too long to complete, and like Will said, was only a few minutes to do.

Nico reached out his long arms to capture Will again, to which his boyfriend evaded and scooped up the reports of the day. The doctor turned around and shook his finger at Nico, scolding him, "I still have to organize these and put them in the right camper's file, Di Angelo. Don't you get handsy with me."

"I wasn't getting handsy, I just wanted hugs from my boyfriend, whom I haven't seen in two days, may I remind you," Nico folded his arms against his chest and clenched his jaw, blatantly showing his irritation, "I don't understand how Jackson is able to train these campers day after day. They lack commitment and don't respect anyone unless it's out of fear."

A hum of understanding left Will's lips as the son of Apollo gestured for Nico to follow him and talk, which he did. "I mean, I get not blocking an attack that they can't see coming, but doing so just to see your girlfriend in the infirmary is idiotic."

"May I remind you of how you used to do just that?" Will sighed as he unlocked a door leading to the many filing cabinets of demigods past and present, "I remember when you let Thalia stab you right through the leg during training just to be sent to the infirmary. And don't you dare try and deny it, Deathboy."

Nico grumbled, "Fine, maybe I understand it a bit. But they could seriously get themselves hurt! It's not like they have a war to worry about either - most are claimed sooner rather than later nowadays. The kids don't even know what it's like to be out there killing monsters before they kill you!" Will unlocked a drawer and thumbed through the files before dropping a few reports in alphabetical order in the folders.

"What happens if a monster gets its way into camp? The younger generation of campers here don't understand the real threat! They believe that Mr. Jackson and Mr. Di Angelo will surely kill it before it reaches borders. What about when we aren't there?"

"Are you going to keep ranting or can we leave? I'm done with the paperwork." Will smiled.

" _Finally_ ," Nico breathed, and he wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's waist before pulling their chests close together. The son of Hades rested his forehead on Will's, closing his eyes and just feeling overall pacified in his sunshine's presence. He felt almost unnaturally warm fingers climb their way up the back of his shirt to rest in the middle of his back and hold the two together. Will opened his mouth to say something, probably about how late it was getting, but Nico pushed his head forward and slanted his mouth across his boyfriend's to silence him. The son of Apollo hummed appreciatively as Nico pushed the doctor's lab coat off of his shoulders to hang it on the rack behind him.

Will prided himself in his patience. So when Nico decided to ghost his fingers across the sliver of skin exposed between his sweater and his jeans, the son of Apollo grabbed his hands and put them back behind him to stop things from escalating any further. Nico was usually never this forward, and was mostly the one in the relationship to shy away from such touches. Him initiating such contact means…"Aw, you really missed me, huh?"

A fiery red blush lit Nico up, spreading from his cheeks to the tips of his ears, "Maybe I did, Solace. What about it?"

"I was just thinking about letting you choose the movie tonight," Will smirked as he pushed himself up on his tiptoes to give Nico a peck on the lips before pulling away. He heard a small celebratory cheer from Nico as they walked out of the file closet, locked it, and left.

 **PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ**

A popcorn bowl in front of them, a movie playing, and a working sink was all that was needed to make both men happy.

Will snuggled up closer to Nico, resting his head on the other boy's shoulder and shoving another handful of popcorn into his mouth. The apartment just seemed like a good choice for the both of them. It wasn't too far away from Camp, not too far away from Mount Olympus, and made a lot of noise at night. Which at first to Will seemed like a major downside of the place, but realized rather quickly that it helped Nico sleep, which soon became a positive of living in the middle of the City that Never Sleeps. It seems that when he falls asleep to angry people on the road, he realizes he isn't in Tartarus because he never had before heard furious New Yorkers while in that jar when traveling across the utter hell that place is.

And not only that, but the freaking Avengers were stationed in New York City. Will remembers when he saw Hawkeye shooting an arrow and had it land perfectly in between the cinches of armor on some robot alien thing. Will was never as skilled at archery as the rest of his siblings, having taken more to the musical and healing aspect of his father, but he appreciated the way the mortal was able to do that. It surprised the son of Apollo that Hawkeye wasn't related to him in any way.

But Nico's arms squeezing around him led him back to reality, and he gave off a happy sigh. They had been dating for a while now, coming on four years. Considering the average demigod's lifespan was around 20, 30 if you're lucky, moving in together was a good decision. They just meshed well together. Nico was everything Will wasn't, and everything that Will needed. A lot of demigods thought they wouldn't be able to get along, a child with a gift of healing and a child with a knack for killing everything, but they really love each other. Especially with Nico staring blatantly at the screen, whispering little snide remarks in Italian, Latin, and Greek toward the fictional characters. Gods, he was adorable.

Nico leaned his head over and rested it on top of Will's hair, muttering, "Hey, what're you thinking about?"

Will shifted his head, smiling as he looked up at his loving boyfriend, who blushed at the smile on the doctor's face, "You, ya dork." He leaned up and gave a small kiss on Nico's nose, who looked away as the blush spread across his pale face. Will chuckled, and was leaning up to give him a real kiss when the movie suddenly cut out, bringing both demigods' attentions to the screen, which was showing a news warning.

Warning! Fight occurring on 35th Street! For your safety, stay indoors and do not travel to this area!

The flashing letters seemed to swim a bit in Nico's mind, which was constantly shifting in multiple languages, while Will understood it after reading it two times. 35th Street wasn't too far from where they were, but they were far enough away that it didn't concern him. Though it did seem like the gang fights and robberies seemed to become more and more frequent ever since the Avengers stationed their tower in NYC.

Will sighed and shut the television off before grabbing Nico's hands and lifting the two of them off of the couch toward their room, "C'mon, let's just go to bed. We can worry about gangs and popcorn bowls in the morning, 'kay?"

Nico just muttered under his breath, but obediently followed Will's advice to finally get some decent sleep that he had been deprived of in the last few days.

When Will woke up the next morning, Nico wasn't lying next to him.

It caused a brief moment of panic that made Solace jolt up and look around, but his eyes quickly landed on a note next to the bed. He opened up the folded note to see Greek letters looking back at him.

 _Will,_

 _Sorry I had to leave this morning. We need groceries and I need to stop by_

 _some hardware place for some tools to finish up fixing the sink. I do not know if Clarisse will need my help or not; hopefully she can handle the campers with some help from the other counselors. If I'm not back by 2, I'll be at Camp. Go have some fun, take a walk. You kept muttering in your sleep. I do worry about you, sunshine._

 _~Nico_

With a smile on his face, Will got up and stretched out his arms, popping his shoulders. Picking out a simple outfit of a button down and jeans, he began putting them on before catching a look at himself in the mirror. Will wanted to look away, but found himself comparing his body with that of his boyfriend's.

Whereas Nico had many scars covering his torso, Will only had a few on his skin, though it was still a bit too many for a normal mortal to have. Nico had lean muscles, while Will seemed to be getting skinnier and skinnier without any muscle build at all. His boyfriend was right; something was wrong with Will. His normally dark tan skin was becoming paler, and the freckles that usual spanned across his entire body were far and few between.

But Will knew what was going on, ever since the Second Titan War. PTSD didn't only affect soldiers, something William Solace knew for a fact. That war was easily the bloodiest that he had ever seen, and for a doctor? He had to watch many kids his age and younger die that day.

He couldn't help it that he couldn't sleep well, or couldn't stand eating at times. Sometimes when he closed his eyes, Will could still see the kids he couldn't save. That was what made him continue being a doctor, and what made him a damn good one. No matter the injury or circumstance, Will refused to have another person die in his arms again.

Putting on a coat, he looked back longingly in the bedroom, but he knew trying to get some more sleep would just result in him staring at the ceiling for hours. Will slipped a knife into one of his boots and put some drachmas in his pocket. Shaking his head, he hurriedly put on the clothes before leaving the apartment and locking the door behind him.

Stuffing a hand in his pocket to fidget with the coins, Will made his way deeper and deeper into the depths of New York City to escape from the confines of his mind.

Of course Will had the worst of luck. You'd think being the son of Apollo, the god of prophecy, Will would've known when to leave a situation alone. But as soon as he had heard gunshots go off, his 'doctor-sense' as Nico calls it, forced him to move forward toward the fight.

Police sirens ventured closer and closer, to the point of Will wanting to cover his ears even though he had audiokinesis. It was just so freaking loud. But still, he rounded the corner and assessed the situation, the first thing a combat medic's training requires him to do. About seven men, all wearing bandanas around their faces, shooting at a small group of policemen. And in the middle of it all, a limousine where two people were crawling out of. The man looked well dressed with a cap on his head; a chauffeur? He seemed to lean over the other as to shield them. The other was a woman with straight strawberry blonde hair wearing a blouse, skirt, and heels. Not the best outfit for the situation she was in.

Will crouched down low to the ground and pressed his back to a nearby car to make himself as small as possible. He gestured for the two victims to follow his lead, and they obeyed silently as gunshots rang out above them. They got on the asphalt and slowly began crawling towards him.

That was when Will saw the wound on the woman; blood tracing down her left shoulder. Will's light blue eyes narrowed furiously as he realized that an innocent bystander got hurt in the midst of the gunfight. Now was not the time to take action, however. He needed to be patient and keep a level head if he wanted to get the bystanders out of here.

As they finally reached him, Will hurriedly motioned them to follow him behind the car, where he took off his coat. The woman was panting from the obvious effort it took to crawl with that bloodied shoulder of hers. The man looked at the blond, "We need to get her out of here and see a doctor."

Will held up a hand silencing the man, "Let me work." He grabbed the woman by her chin and pushed her face upward so he could see her eyes. He held on finger in front of her, "Follow it with your eyes."

She was able to; not going into shock. That made everything much easier for Will. He sighed and looked over at the man, "I'm going to need your help. I can't give her a full assessment here in the midst of all this, and I'm willing to bet that the bullet is still in her. What's your guys' name?"

The man answered, as the woman was just biting her lip to keep from yelping in pain, "I'm Happy Hogan. This is Pepper Potts. Look kid, we need an actual-"

"I am an actual field medic, sir. Again, I need your help stabilizing her." Will grabbed the woman gently this time by the cheeks and made her meet his blue eyes, "Hey, Miss Potts. I'm going to do something that's going to hurt, okay? But we need to make sure that bullet isn't stuck in the bone, so I need you to listen and do what I say, alright?"

Will thought he'd get a small grunt, maybe a whimper. The woman surprised him by gritting her teeth and answering completely coherently, "Just do what you need to."

He nodded before looking over at Hogan, "Hold her arm close to her chest while I tie my coat around her. As much as I want to get the bullet out, we can't risk you guys getting more injured than you already are," Will noted that Hogan himself had man scratches and scrapes up and down his body, and made sure to remember he took care of those later.

The older man realized that the kid, although young, knew what he was doing. He pushed Pepper's arm up against her torso, making her give out a small yelp of pain, and Will got to work. His fingers were fast and methodical, not wasting any time making a sling for her to use out of his coat. The serious look on his face made him look years older, and the bright blue eyes seemed to dull at the sight of seeing Pepper hurt. This kid could give any experienced doctor a run for his money with the speed he had taking care of Pepper Potts.

Will looked around, and a bullet crashed through the window of the car they were hiding behind, making the son of Apollo curse in Greek and cover the group's heads with his hands, resulting in a few cuts appearing on the backs of his arms. He crouched, resting on the balls of his feet, "C'mon, we need to move before we get shot!"

The two didn't hesitate following, covering their heads and running for their lives. They rounded a corner, but Will kept motioning them forward, "They could move the fight at any moment. We need to clear the area." So they kept following the boy, who seemed to know the streets very well.

After a few minutes of sprinting, Will settled to a nice jog before standing still, his two patients behind him, panting. The boy nodded at hearing the sirens block away; they were far away from the fight, at least far enough away that reduces the risk of getting shot. Solace took a deep breath to calm himself down before turning to Miss Potts, the patient that needed help much more than the other, "Alright, we're safe enough for now. I need to get a better look at that wound, so I'm going to remove the sling."

He didn't want to waste time untying the knot he made; not only would she lose more blood, but her wound would jostle too much, possibly injuring her further. So he kicked his leg up and grabbed his knife. It wasn't impressive or golden, such as Annabeth's or even Piper's, but it suited him enough. Simple, small, and somewhat surgical with a curved sharpened point. Perfect for a doctor on the field. Not only that, but it was part Celestial Bronze and part iron, so it was usable on mortals, monsters, and demigods.

He cut the fabric of his coat with one swing, eliciting a whimper and flinch from Miss Potts. A jacket lost was okay by Will as long as he helped this woman out. Hogan kneeled down, "Is there anything I can do?"

"Call someone she knows, inform them of the situation at hand. Other than that, hold her down. I need to locate the bullet." Will reached over and cut a square of fabric off of the woman's shirt to get a look at the entry point.

It looked messy at the surface, but passed the point of entry was a clean shot. She got lucky, too; barely missed her clavicle. The hard part was going to be getting it out, and on a second observation, Will noticed that it was hitting her scapula. He muttered underneath his breath, "How you were able to hit your supraspinous fossa and completely miss the clavicle is beyond me. One of the strangest cases I've had yet."

Potts gave a small bark of laughter, most likely to hide the bit of pain she was in, "Yeah, strange case. Sure, I'm the strange one."

Will grumbled, "And my patient's sarcastic. Even better."

Without any warning to Miss Potts, Will used his finger to move a bit of skin aside, widening the wound. Before Pepper could register what was going on through the haze of pain, Solace slipped the knife in the small hole, poking and prodding. A scream ripped from the woman's throat, and Stark, who was on the other line of Hogan's cell, immediately started up a suit of his.

Will shushed her, offering small words and condolences before shifting his position. He knelt over the woman, putting his head close to her shoulder to make sure he didn't bump anything. The blood was blocking his view, and he desperately wished she wasn't a mortal just so he could shut her up with ambrosia and nectar, along with helping along the healing process. But all he had was his coat, coins, and knife.

He took a drachma out of his pocket and put it between her teeth. He calmly spoke to her while she bit it harshly, "Did you know that the idiom 'bite the bullet' came from combat medics? They would put bullets between their patient's teeth so they wouldn't scream and give away their position." The woman, although her mind was still focused on the pain in her shoulder, found herself listening intently to the kid's words. It seemed to keep her awake, so Will continued talking as he digged the knife in a bit further. He was so close to that bullet-! "But bullets were only used in case leather wasn't around. It could muffle the sounds much better that metal can."

Hogan hissed, "That's not helping!"

"What else do you want me to say?!" Will snapped, as he neared the bullet, being careful not to hit any other part of the scapula or tear any more muscle, "That she has a broken scapula? That her deltoid is torn and she has a small tear in her infraspinatus muscle? Should I explain that if she doesn't keep still I could accidentally tear the muscles connecting the shoulder girdle to the arm, enabling her left arm useless, and possibly have to amputate it if I injure her further by not doing my job right? Please, Mr Hogan. Explain what you want me to talk about!"

As he said the last word, Will jerked back, twisting the knife expertly. A bloody piece of metal with white flecks of bone hit the asphalt, bouncing once before stalling on the cement. A sigh of relief made its way out Will's nose. He took the drachma from Pepper's mouth, who was panting with the effort of quieting herself during the entire process. Huffing in exhaustion from deep concentration and precision, Will sat back on his legs, tilting his head up toward the sky. He sent up a quick grateful prayer to the gods for helping him keep his hands from shaking the entire time.

Hogan looked right at Pepper, "What now?"

"Now?" Will gave a small bark of laughter, "If I had my equipment I would sterilize the area, put her under, and then do some nice intensive few hour surgery to ensure she could use that shoulder again in her lifetime. But I don't really have an office, Mr. Hogan, so we're going to have to wait until that backup you called shows up."

And so, wait they did.


	2. Chapter 2

**Yeah so i updated this one faster than my other story bUT SOLANGELO GIVES ME LIFE AND GEEZ MAN I LOVE IT so here we are now. You're welcome.**

Will wasn't expecting freaking _Tony Billionaire Iron Man Stark_ to be the one picking them up in his _Iron Man suit_. (He's pretty sure at least that that's what Tony Stark's middle name is, anyways). Of course, the man himself carried Pepper Potts, leaving Hogan and Will to hail a cab (they were _not_ going back to the bullet-ridden limo) and make their way over to the Avengers Tower. It was a bit of an awkward fifteen minute drive, but Will successfully avoided Hogan's bit of interrogation means. Such as the obvious who are your parents, do you live around here, and other sorts of personal information that Will was _not_ willing to give out so soon.

But seeing the Avengers Tower close up was _amazing_. Will himself was amazed by the sheer height of the place, and if Annabeth were there, he'd most likely never get her to shut up about the architectural intelligence it took to build the place.

He was immediately escorted into the place; apparently he and Mr. Hogan were top priorities in Miss Potts' overall wellbeing. Seems that being the one to successfully remove the bullet from a woman's shoulder means that you have to be questioned by all personnel to know how you did it.

And that's the story of how it was one in the afternoon, and Will was outside the room that Miss Potts' was being mortally and surgically healed with Hogan beside him. Mr. Stark, although he was 'gifted' in machinery, was not in doctoring a person, but he still wished to be present in the reconstructive surgery.

So Will decided to participate in a wonderful conversation with Tony Stark's chauffeur, Mr. Hogan. Which ended in a beautiful bit of awkward silence, and Will just wished that either Thanatos took mercy on him and killed him right there, or that Nico would shadow-travel his ass to where he was and get him the Tartarus out of there.

But it seemed that neither of those ideas was going to happen, so Will took to looking at his dirtied shoes. He could hear Hogan's breathing, and could vaguely recognize the two holes being buried in his side from Hogan's stare.

" _What_ in god's name are you muttering, kid."

Oops. He didn't know he was muttering. If he had to guess, Will would say he was probably whispering hymns to the gods (his father mainly) to bless the surgery and speed along the healing process. Most likely in Greek, "Just uh, a few prayers."

Hogan took a seat next to the younger male, putting a hand on Will's shoulder, "Hey, you did what you could. No God could say anything otherwise, kid."

"I just wish I could be in there," Will muttered, much to Hogan's surprise, "Her shoulder was messed up pretty badly, and if I just had some more _time_ -"

Hogan waved his hand in front of the kid's face, making Will look up to meet his eyes, "Again, you did what you could with the equipment you had. No one is blaming you for what's going on here, so stop beating yourself up over it, Will."

The son of Apollo had to admit, the little pep talk was appreciated, and he told Hogan just as much. Hogan offered him a smile before settling his gaze to the door, where a very tired Mr. Stark was walking out of. His suit was underneath baggy light blue scrubs, and he tore the equally light blue cap off of his head, spreading wild hair in every direction possible.

The billionaire took one long look at the blond kid in front of him before running a hand through his hair, "Well kid, looks like you might've saved my girlfriend's arm. Gotta hand it to you, that was some pretty precise work you did getting that bullet out of her."

"Anyone could do it with the proper training, sir," Will sat up a bit straighter in his seat, determined not to make a damned fool of himself, "If there's anything else I can do, then just say the word."

Tony hummed quietly before clapping his hands together and digging underneath the scrubs to find his pocket. He rummaged around for a minute before pulling something gold out of his pocket and held it out for Will to take, "If you or anyone you know need help, you have a friend to call. Understood?"

"Y-Yeah," Will stuttered out, grabbing the card and putting it in his pocket, "But is there anything else that I can do to help either you or Miss Potts?"

The billionaire looked curiously at the boy. Usually most anyone that Tony gave a card to and offered services to would be selfish and greedy. They'd ask for money, cars, jewelry, the works. This kid was something different; he kept wanting to help him even after Tony gave him his personal card for anything. Tony gavee a smirk, "Give me your number. If there's anything else Pepper needs, or any therapeutic treatment, I'll give you a call, alright kid?"

A wide smile was on Will's face, and maybe it was Tony's imagination or the exuberant happiness Will let out, but it looked like his freckles were glowing along with the kid's personality. His voice seemed much happier than before when he was blaming himself for her injury, "Absolutely, Mr. Stark!"

Will was handed another one of Tony's cards and a pen, and after hurriedly writing down his number, the superhero put the card in his back pocket, "Well, now that that's all said and done, you're free to go, Willy."

The doctor cringed at the name, but grinned through it. The terrible nickname would slide for now, or at least until Mr. Stark called him by his real name. At least he'd be able to keep in contact with Miss Potts just in case she needed any help, which made him even happier than having the hero's personal phone number.

He walked out of the Avengers Tower toward his apartment with a wide and unfading smile on his face.

 **PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ**

Nico was feeling quite exasperated.

The cashier lady at the store he went to wouldn't accept his coupons for the groceries he got, costing him twenty more U.S. dollars. His dad may be the god of wealth, but Nico still didn't like wasting money when he had perfectly good coupons to use. He _did_ get the correct wrench to fix the sink, however, so there was a positive note in the entire trip he had made.

When he got back home, Will wasn't there. Which made him a bit suspicious until he saw his coat and boots gone. Which was great; not a kidnapping incident (looking at you, Hera). Maybe Will took up Nico's suggestion of taking a relaxing walk through the city. Hopefully that made him feel better; maybe Nico should make something for lunch. Or… late lunch, considering it was past one.

What if Will already ate though? No, Nico would wait for Will to get home. He put away the groceries he bought and pulled back his unruly dark hair in a low ponytail. Might as well finish fixing the sink while Will was out.

That ended with him on his back, hands above his head, fixing the sink while being stuffed halfway through the bottom cabinets along with his thoughts.

Will should be getting better, and Nico knew that. And there were times that he _was_ getting better, and those times usually came with the most loving smiles and sunshine leaking through the cracks. But Nico knew that Will's nightmares were getting worse, and Nico knew a lot about nightmares. Whereas Nico had to deal with Tartarus and the horrible insanity it had caused him being there, Will was left with a few different scars than he had.

While he was in that utter hell, the being Tartarus would first plant a seed and then let it fester inside of you, worming its way through your body like it was a maggot. It would show you terrifying visions, horrid flashbacks, and possible futures. Nico saw many of his friends dead, but one of the only things keeping him alive was the fact that he knew that the campers were safe. And that's how he can still combat many nightmares that he still has of the place, especially when there was Will hugging him throughout the night.

Will had different nightmares. His consisted of children dying in his arms, his failures carved out in front of him, the lost souls of demigods on his head. But they were all real. They weren't nightmares, and Nico knew that; he was reliving his older memories. His boyfriend constantly blames himself for not being able to save everyone, and for many nights after the Second Titan War, Will would have small bouts of reclusiveness. It… worried Nico.

It had been a _long_ time since Nico had seen Will truly glad. When the son of Apollo exuberated happiness, his freckles would glow, his eyes would brighten, and even small wisps of sunlight would escape out of his fingertips and lips. Although he only claims to have audiokinesis and vitakinesis, Nico was sure that Will had a touch of light manipulation. If he tried hard enough, Nico was sure the doctor could even use that to his own advantage, such as Nico with his umbrakinesis.

But he never displayed such power anymore. Whenever Will was happy, his freckles would glow, but that was it. His eyes didn't seem to glow anymore, which seriously worried the King of Ghosts. He wanted his happy ray of sunshine back.

He heard the door open, but didn't get out from under the sink. Instead, he listened to the door shut and be locked before calling out, "Hey! Hope you got something to eat, I've been a bit busy fixing the sink."

"No… no I'm not hungry," Something was off. There was a strange lilt to Will's voice, and the thunks of him taking off his boots were slower than usual. Before Nico could question it, he smelled something off.

Blood.

Immediately jumping out from under the sink (and nearly hitting his head in the process), Nico bounded forward toward his boyfriend to see that his coat was covered in dark red bloodstains, but the only trace of blood on Will was a few spots on his hands. The son of Hades grabbed Will's face, forcing the blond man to look at him in the eyes. Dark obsidian met sky blue as Nico tilted the man's head in his hands, "Are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened, sunshine, c'mon, talk to me."

Will swallowed in nervousness and cleared his throat a bit before talking. His voice was still soft, almost impossibly so, "A mortal was hurt. Gunshot wound to the shoulder. Had to take it out, but what if I hurt her more than helped…?"

"Will Solace listen to me," Nico frowned, "Just because she's mortal doesn't mean you did anything wrong!"

"I was tempted to give her nectar and ambrosia! I could've killed her!" A horror-stricken look was dead set on Will's face, "There were so many unknown variables, and the main one was my stupid and idiotic mistakes! I'm a horrid doctor, and a worse person!" The man tried to wiggle his way out of Nico's grasp, "Let me go, gods damn it all!"

Nico leaned forward to press their foreheads together, forcing Will to look at him, "Sunshine. I don't know what happened, but you need to trust me when I say you are the greatest doctor I know. But I can't have a rational conversation with you right now because you're still going through some shock," Nico gave the man a quick peck on the lips before blushing and pulling away, "Go sit on the couch and breathe for a minute. I'll make us something to eat."

"I'm not hungry," Will murmured.

Nico frowned and let go of Will, turning around and opening the cabinet to find a box of mac and cheese, "I'm making food. Go sit down. We'll talk when you're head is clear."

So Will shuffled around before falling on the couch, letting his legs fall over one arm rest and laid his head on the other. He stared up at the ceiling fan and just listened to the occasional squeak it let out.

Demigods were much more durable than mortals. It was in their DNA. After the entire thing was said and done, Will realized that very fact. Mortals were more easily susceptible to disease, and when was the last time Will had thoroughly cleaned his knife? He could've given that woman tetanus! He could've infected her with some weird monster disease! Not only that, but his coat hadn't been washed in a while; what sort of bacteria wormed their way into from his choice of 'stabilizing her'? He didn't have to think about it with demigods. Demigods never died of diseases such as tetanus, or bacterial infections.

His first instinct upon seeing the shot woman was rage that an innocent bystander had gotten hurt. The second was almost a sense of feeling as if the woman was pathetic and was being weak. He had put his standards of a demigod onto a mortal woman; how condescending was that? If it was any kid in camp, he would've just put an ambrosia square in their mouth and told them to meet in the infirmary when they were ready to be treated.

Gods, he can't just do that to a mortal! They're… fragile. Easily broken. A demigod is just far more durable when it comes to biological tendencies. A demigod gets a slash in their stomach, they stand up and can run for miles. A mortal? They wouldn't be able to sit up, let alone walk. It was idiotic of him to make Miss Potts run away from a fight when that shoulder would've made it hard to even stand. He made her _run_.

How cruel he must've looked! Forcing two mortals to just blindly trust him, only to make stupid mistakes. Chiron would be ashamed, _Apollo_ would be ashamed. Tears stung his eyes as he remembered the pained look in Pepper's eyes as he stuffed a coin in her mouth to keep her from screaming.

That was by far the worst thing he could have done. Forcing his patients to keep quiet came natural to him, seeing as many of his patients were usually out in the real world fighting monsters. Keeping someone quiet was important; if they weren't, a monster could find them and kill them while they're down.

But there were no such monsters. Only a _stupid_ demigod child that pushed his paranoia on others around him. And then he just blabbed on about how bullets and various leathers were officially used in the Civil War to keep soldiers quiet. He might as well have just rubbed salt in that bullet wound with how insensitive he was being!

In his musings, Will didn't notice a pair of arms lift his head and upper torso up to squeeze onto the couch. He was gently placed back down, but his head was in Nico's lap, who was running his hands through the doctor's hair.

Nico leaned down and kissed his forehead before pulling away, "Have you calmed down?"

Will wanted to sit up and kiss the frown off of Nico's face, but knew they had to talk this one out, "I suppose. M'sorry, Neeks."

A loud sigh was heard, "You really scared me there, sunshine. Just tell me what happened, start to finish. But this time don't freak out on me, okay?" Will looked up to see a gentle smile on Nico's face, and a small endearing grin was stuck on his. The son of Apollo sat up, but instead of sitting next to him, Will sat in Nico's lap.

Ignoring the obvious blush on his boyfriend's pale face, Will rested his head on Nico's shoulder, murmuring the day's events while playing the the skull ring on Nico's hand. The story went by relatively quickly, with no interruptions. Will told him everything, his condescending nature throughout the treatment, forcing her to run with him, even ignoring Hogan. Nico kept twisting his fingers in Will's hair, and then untwisting to give some peace of mind, to be Will's anchor, to remind Will that he was on their couch and not out in that street helping Pepper, or not in some field with a dying child.

With the story done, Nico leaned his head back to rest it on the top of the couch, letting Will bury his head in the aviator jacket he sported. The King of Ghosts still didn't let go of the other man's hair, letting the curls pass through his fingers before bunching them up again. They sat in silence for a while, just holding each other. Vaguely, Nico remembered the boiling pot of noodles on the stove, but didn't make any move to get up.

Finally, Nico broke the silence, "You did everything you could have done and more, sunshine. You helped her, may have even saved her life, and here you are worrying about your behavior and a few mistakes?"

A small whine left Will's mouth, "Those mistakes could have killed the woman!"

"Yes, and I'm sure your mistakes are going to be what Pepper Potts thinks about when she wakes up," Nico frowned, "She's going to be _so angry_ that you forced her to run away from a gun fight, put a coin in her mouth to keep her from screaming, and helped stabilize her arm by using your own coat as a sling. I can't imagine why she'd even be remotely happy, Solace."

"Stop being so sarcastic! This is serious!"

"I understand that this is serious, but look at what you did!" Nico growled out, "With only a few coins, a coat, and a knife, you got a bullet out of her arm, stabilized her shoulder, and was able to get help from professionals that had surgical mortal equipment! You saved that woman's life, and you need to understand that your _flaws_ don't hold a candle to the good you've done."

They didn't look at each other after that. Will's breath caught in his throat, and he highly suspected that the last sentence out of Nico's mouth meant more than the situation with Pepper Potts. Will let go of Nico's hand, opting to play with his own fingers, picking at the dried bloodstains on his hands. Nico obviously noticed the lack of contact and sighed heavily before letting go of Will's hair to grab the son of Apollo's hands. He turned them over a few times, before talking quietly, "Go wash your hands. Lunch is almost ready, and we'll go out to eat tonight for dinner, okay?"

Will hummed in acknowledgement before standing up with a loud huff. Before he could walk away toward the kitchen sink, Nico grabbed his arm and pulled him around, kissing him softly on the mouth. Will smiled softly into the kiss and wrapped his arms tightly around Nico's neck, pulling on the low ponytail he sported. Without any hint, Will pulled back resting his forehead on Nico's. "This isn't you trying to make me use the bathroom sink because you haven't fixed the kitchen one yet, is it?" He purred.

A large blush flew across Nico's face, spreading to his ears. A sort of pout fell on his lips as he half-heartedly glared at the sun god's son, "No… Why would you think that?"

"Because you're leading us to the bathroom?"

"... Just use this sink, I'm almost done with the other one."

A small giggle left Will's mouth as he grinned at the childishness Nico had. Few ever got the chance to see this side of his wonderful boyfriend, and Will was glad that he was able to have so many moments like this with him. He leaned up and kissed Nico one last time before disappearing into the bathroom.

Nico smiled and lightly touched his mouth. His boyfriend may not know it yet, but Nico saw the glimmer of sunlight pouring out of Will's freckles and the bit of light reflecting in his hair. It was always amazing to see the overly excitable Will once again. He swore that he would help Will return to his happier state, even if it cost him everything.

And the children of Hades have the _worst_ grudges.

 **Send me any questions or prompts you have! I love hearing your guys' reviews ;w; many thanks to** **paws Whovian and the Guests (X3)!**


	3. Chapter 3

It was a week later when Will's phone rang.

He and Nico were out together on patrol, looking for any monsters. Chiron had Iris Messaged them earlier in the day explaining that the satyrs felt uneasy coming to downtown New York. Either something was messing around with the Mist, or there were some large monsters milling around. The two were willing to bet that it was the latter.

So they walked around in the early evening, heading to the most populated places and making their way to the least populated areas. More often than not, monsters tended to like large audiences watching them devour their food. And more people means more people to eat.

They looked unassuming, or at least Will looked unassuming. His knife was tucked away in his boot, he had on a long jacket with a t-shirt underneath it. In the backpack on his back was some cash, drachmas, a first aid kit, and some water bottles.

Now Nico looked scary no matter what. He really _was_ happy holding his boyfriend's hand and walking down the street, but mortals seemed to move around him. He wore his usual; skull t-shirt, aviator's WWII jacket, skull ring, combat boots, and torn up jeans. The Mist was able to hide his sword from mortals' eyes, which was great considering he just let it hang loosely at his side. His hair was pulled back, but Will knew it wasn't because he wanted to keep the hair from his eyes. Nico just didn't like brushing his hair, something Will has been trying to do by himself without the doctor's help.

But walking in Times Square with Nico? Amazing. Even though Nico had gone to many places in his lifetime, what with his shadow-traveling and all, the son of Hades seemed to be mesmerized by the many lights every time they went downtown. Sometimes Will just forgot that Nico grew up in the 1930s and 40s until he saw the culture shock on his face.

Although it was amusing to watch Nico, Will had to remind himself that they were on a mission to find whatever was in New York City and stop it. Nico pointed up at one of the glowing billboards and began asking Will how much he thought it cost to build when the phone rang.

Will frowned; not many people knew his number, especially when the phone wasn't even a part of mortal corporations, having been made by Leo to block their scent from monsters. The only people who had his number was Nico, his mother, Kayla (the new Apollo cabin leader), Percy, Annabeth, Chiron, and -

Tony Stark!

Will fumbled getting his phone out, cursing when he almost dropped it. He looked at the caller ID and saw it as an Unknown number, but he was positive about who it was. He stared at the screen for a moment until Nico nudged him, "Just answer it, sunshine. We still have a job to do."

The son of Apollo nodded and held the phone close to his ear and pressed the answer button, "Hello, Will Solace speaking."

A large sigh was heard, and it sounded almost relieved, " _Hey doctor kid. It's Tony."_

"I figured," A laugh escaped Will, and Nico gave a wry grin at hearing the bubbling laughs from Will, "Is there something you need help with, Mr. Stark?"

" _Again, kid. It's Tony,"_ the billionaire muttered, " _And yeah, help would be nice. Pepper wants to talk with you about rehabilitation. She's on this kick of letting no debts take a hold of her and self-righteousness, blah blah. Anyway just come over to the Tower."_

Will exchanged a glance with Nico, who stared curiously at his boyfriend's expressions, "Um, can I have a second? To rearrange plans with someone?"

" _Oh shit, you were on a date with someone? Sorry. Tell the pretty lady I'm sorry for taking such a handsome man away from her."_

Will gave a bark of laughter, "Will do. One moment please."

He muted his side of the conversation before looking over at Nico, "Pepper Potts wants me to help with her therapy to fix her shoulder. Can you take the monster on by yourself, deathboy?"

"Of course I can!" Nico's eyebrows twitched, "It's going to be a bit harder without my sunshine nearby, but I can manage."

Will gave the man a peck on the cheek before looking at the phone. His finger hovered over the unmute button, "Also Mr. Stark apologizes for taking such a handsome man away from his pretty lady."

Nico opened his mouth, most likely to curse the man, when Will began talking in the phone again, "Alright, the date was rearranged. I'll hail a cab and be over as fast as I can."

" _Great. Just ask Friday to let you up. Or if Vision is in the lobby still, he can help you. But you know, he's most likely out with his lady friend learning of culture and all that boring stuff,"_ Will heard a loud thud, and a curse from Tony, " _Pepper's getting antsy. Hurry up before she kills me."_

"Already on my way." He hung up the phone and looked over at Nico, "Hey, take the backpack. You know, just in case."

Nico smiled and grabbed it off of Will's back and unzipped it. He pulled out some cash and drachmas before setting the money in Will's hand, "Just be careful, and try not to annoy anyone with your doctor speak."

Will chuckled, "Hey my 'doctor speak' worked on you, Di Angelo. I'll see you in a few hours. I'll call you if anything changes, so turn you ringer up on your phone."

Nico grumbled and got his phone out of his back pocket, and when he looked back up, Will was waving his arms and getting the attention of a cab. The driver pulled over, and Will grabbed Nico by the collar of his jacket, kissing him quickly before jumping in the yellow taxi.

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

Pepper looked up at the doctor, smiling at the way he looked around the room. It was great to see the kid again, even in these circumstances. Her left arm was in a dark blue sling, preventing her from moving, and she had bandages on her shoulder. Will didn't meet her eyes.

She was the first to break the silence, getting up from her chair to make her way across the room to greet him. Will took careful steps out of the elevator, meeting her halfway as she spoke, "It's a pleasure to speak with you again, Mr. Solace."

An embarrassed blush flew across the man's face, "C-Call me Will. No one really calls me Mr. Solace."

"Of course," She nodded, a smile still on her face, "Tony would greet you, but he retreated to his garage so we can talk business."

She led him over to a small table with two chairs pulled up to it. Will muttered under his breath, "Business?" But if she heard him, she ignored it. Will sat down in one of the chairs, and noticed the two glasses in front of him, most likely filled with some sort of champagne or wine.

Pepper leaned back in her chair, "I hope you like white wine."

"I uh," Will looked away, "I'm nineteen. Can't drink." Of course his age didn't matter too much when it came to alcohol. Demigods had a faster metabolism, so it would've taken him a lot of wine to even get a bit tipsy.

Pepper's eyes widened; she knew Will was young, but under twenty one? Wow, "You know a lot about treating injuries at your age."

Will smiled, "I wanted to be a doctor ever since I was little. And my friends get into a lot of trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Pepper crossed her legs before taking a sip of her own wine.

"Accident prone, all of 'em. A doctor's nightmare to be around, or a dream come true if they get paid for every injury," Will joked, "If I got paid every time I fixed one of them up, I'd probably be as rich as Mr. Stark."

The two laughed together, but Will quickly sobered, thinking of the reason Pepper must have called him for, "So, we are here to discuss what kind of business, Miss Potts?"

"Oh please, call me Pepper." She said, taking a small sip before continuing, "And yes, business. I'd like to offer you a temporary job working for me. And before you say anything, let me explain, alright?"

Will nodded, but was apprehensive already. He had a job; taking care of New York City and helping out at Camp Half Blood. But he let her speak her mind. "With my shoulder the way it is, I need help getting around, doing everyday things. Running a company shared with Tony will become increasingly difficult for me by myself. And I have no knowledge when it comes to the medical area of your expertise.

"I just need an assistant for a while. But not only that, I need someone with a medical prowess such as yourself. Therapy and rehabilitation isn't something I'll be able to keep up on my own, and you seem to excel, at least in what I've seen, at doctoring."

"Pepper, I really appreciate this, but-"

She held up a hand, silencing him, "Listen, Will. I need a physical therapist and a temporary assistant. Why not have both in one? Besides, I can pay you a handsome figure."

Money was pretty much immaterial to Will. Nico was the son of Hades, the god of _wealth_. Being the Prince of the Underworld came with serious benefits, such as the two of them being able to live comfortably without having to work outside of Camp. But maybe it was time that Will bring in a bit of money? He can't just live off of Nico's wealth; he wanted to help support them.

He sighed, "Can I call someone and discuss the job opportunity with them?"

She nodded, "Of course. Take all the time you need. There's a bathroom down the hallway and to the left."

Will followed her instructions, locking the door behind him. He debated with either calling him or IMing him, but decided to go with the former. Didn't want to freak out any mortals, and he wasn't sure if there were any cameras in the Avengers Tower, and wasn't going to risk it. He found Nico's number and pressed Call.

The man picked up on the fifth ring, and Will noted that his breathing was labored and it sounded like he was running, "Hey Nico, can you talk?"

" _NOT REALLY!"_ Will heard a roar in the background, and immediately tensed up, " _What's up?!"_

Will sighed, "Are you trying to have a conversation and fight at the same time?"

" _Maybe!"_

Will explained the situation to Nico with hushed tones, and near the end of the story, he heard the monster roar once more, "What is it? Where was it?"

The sound of a sword hitting something metal rang, and Will rubbed his ear to rid of the sound, " _Baby drakon thing. Two empousa. Hiding out in an alleyway near Mount Olympus. Got the she-demons dead. But gods, the drakon is as big as a freaking_ tank _."_

"Do I need to go over and help you?"

" _No, just… just take the job!"_ He heard a grunt and heard something crackle. If he had to guess, Nico was trying to bury the thing to incapacitate it so he could get a good shot, " _The offer sounds great, babe! Besides, you want to help her out, right?"_

"Yeah, but-"

" _I don't have time to argue with you about this!"_ Another clang, another curse, " _Besides, maybe you could meet that arrow guy you practically worship!"_

Will was about to deny it, but found that he couldn't; Hawkeye was just too damn cool, "Fine. I'll take the offer. But we're discussing this when I get home, understood?"

" _Yup! I understand!"_ He grunted once more, and the sound of a balloon releasing its air filled the phone's speakers, along with the sound of sand falling to the ground. Nico must've killed it, " _Love you, sunshine."_

"Love you too."

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

Waking up the next morning was a struggle.

Will just wasn't used to getting up early for a job, seeing as the only job he really had was working at Camp. But campers never really got injured until later in the day, so he would usually start leaving around noon. Though waking up early did have a few perks.

The main one being able to see Nico.

The son of Hades was generally quiet when he slept. He made little noise, and even though he was taller than Will (by only a few inches!), he always curled himself up in the smallest ball possible. His dark hair spread out on the pillow, and he bunched up the blankets with his fists, which were curled up tightly against his chest. Gods, his boyfriend was cute.

But Will had to start moving. He carefully stepped over Nico and made his way to the dresser, pulling out some nice jeans and a light blue button down. He looked closer at himself in the mirror and saw light blond hairs beginning to sprout on his face. Will decided he could go another day without shaving; the facial hair was too light to be seen on his tan skin anyway.

He straightened out his outfit and made his way to the kitchen to make some coffee and eggs. With the coffee pot going, Will grabbed the eggs and a frying pan, deciding to make Nico breakfast before he left for work.

Will made what they liked; sunnyside up for him, and scrambled for the King of Ghosts. He grabbed the spatula and made quick work of his own two eggs before moving on to Nico's. A small smile was on his face, and he didn't seem to notice the lightbulbs in the room getting brighter with his happiness. A nameless tune made its way out of his mouth, making him hum listlessly. Even Will had to cringe at one of the notes he tried to hit; seems his siblings were right, he really _is_ tone deaf.

Two arms made their way around his waist, and Will's smile only grew. A face buried itself in the crook of his neck, listening to Will hum. The owner of the arms moved them left and right, swaying in the early morning.

Will tilted his head so the the side of his face met Nico's dark and unruly hair. Reaching over to grab the salt, he seasoned the man's eggs, to which Nico grunted appreciatively. He put the food on a paper plate and set the pan in the now fixed sink before turning around and hugging his boyfriend, who had yet to say anything other than grunt.

Coffee, then.

He squeezed him once before untangling himself from Nico's lanky arms to get out some coffee mugs. He poured the coffee, black for Nico and half cream for Will, and set them at the table. He set out the plates of eggs and some forks as well. He ruffled Nico's hair as he passed him to sit in his own seat to get a grunt in return. Tired Nico was something Will wished he could see more often.

It took a few minutes, but they both gradually woke up. It was nearing 8 in the morning, meaning Will had to leave soon. Nico murmured, "You want me to walk you over to the tower? Or are you going to hail a cab?"

Will grinned, "Don't you have training today? Something tells me Clarisse won't be happy if you're late _again_."

Nico let out a soft curse under his breath before taking another long swig of coffee, "She can teach the morning classes for once and let me have a break while I walk you to your first day of work."

"Neeks, I'll be fine. You need to help train the other kids, alright?" Will smiled, "Besides, this isn't like the first day of kindergarten. It's _work_. No need to get yourself all up in a knot over it, deathboy."

Only a grunt left Nico's lips, before he finished his eggs. He put his paper plate in the trash and the mug in the sink before stalking off to their bedroom. Will let out a soft laugh before standing up and doing away with his own dishes before walking to the bathroom.

He brushed his teeth and then his hair, trying to tame the light blond curls into submission. A shadow made its way behind him and into the living room, something that made Will jump a bit, but he calmed himself down; Nico was a quiet person, especially when he moved around. Will walked out of the bathroom to see Nico tying up his bootlaces, a sword at his side. Nico lifted his eyes, and Will smiled. His eyes were a dark brown, almost an obsidian black, and it seemed as if one stared in them long enough, the madman glint in his eyes would swallow you whole.

It made Will shudder every time, but he was never scared of the son of Hades. No, when Nico looked at Will, his eyes were filled with something indescribable that made Will's heart swell with happiness and pride. Will walked over and sat next to Nico and began tying up his own boots, sliding in the knife in its usual holster. Being friends with Piper came with many benefits, the main one being able to have clothes made by Aphrodite kids that have holsters and sheaths in them.

Will leaned over and hugged Nico with one arm, and Nico gave him a kiss on the top of his head, earning a sigh from the son of Apollo. Nico sat up, Will following him. They walked over to the door together, and Will smiled at Nico, "I'll see you tonight, Neeks. Maybe we can go get some McDonald's, huh?"

Nico's smile seemed to grow even wider, the grin bordering on animalistic, "That sounds amazing, sunshine." He leaned over and gave a peck on Will's lips, who closed his eyes. When he felt the pressure leave his lips, he opened them to see Nico gone.

Must've shadow-traveled. He really should keep that power to a minimum. But Will just shook his head and grabbed his wallet and cell phone before leaving the apartment and locking the door behind him.

 **yo it's Hate again! How is everyone's day/night goin? Good? Good.**

 **Wanted to update, seeing as I have a lot of this story already written and all I need to do is sit back, edit, and relax most my way through this one. Remember to review, and send me questions and prompts! I love being able to talk with you guys so much! ;w;**

 **Love, Hate**


	4. Chapter 4

"I need fourteen copies of the business summary, five year plan, the mission and vision statements, and the economic graphs. After that, I'll need you to page Tony and hook him up to a conference call before he can run away from his responsibilities again. Next will be checking up on the new secretary in the Avenger's Tower, seeing as it is his first day and seems to be utterly incompetent at his job. If you see any of Tony's superhero playmates, ignore all of them, they aren't your main priority. Lastly I'll have you go and pick up some lunch for the both of us, and that should bring us to noon where we'll take a thirty minute break for physical therapy before your next set of task. Understood?"

Will's eyes just kept getting wider and wider, not being able to keep up with the information. He seemed to cower under Pepper's harsh business-like gaze, his shoulders hunching in on him as to shield hom from the onslaught of tasks. Pepper sighed; this was a bit too much for anyone. Maybe she should take five minutes and write it all down for him.

"...How about you start with a coffee? I like mine with two sugars," Pepper Potts grinned, ridding herself of the strictly business facade she puts on daily, "You can get whatever you'd like, Will."

 _That_ was something he knew how to do. A shy smile made its way onto Will's face, "Just point me in the direction of the coffee machine and I'll go get some for you, Miss Potts." She explained where the location was, and off he went.

Gods, this was going to be terribly confusing. Will walked down the hallways as he thought about the complexity it was being Pepper's assistant; maybe the last guy couldn't keep up and she fired them? And all that she said was _before_ they even started therapy! Sure, he had some stuff lined up for her today to do, but her schedule seemed so much more organized and complex than anything he had ever done (well, the files in the Big House were pretty complex).

As he filled a cup of coffee and put in the correct amount of sugars, he glanced over at the others in the office space of Stark Industries. Few stopped and paid him any mind; actually, when Will said hello to someone, they flatout ignored him in favor of their paperwork. How rude to the CEO's assistant.

Will didn't get himself any coffee like Pepper suggested; he just had some with Nico before he left for work. No point in making his ADHD worse than it already was.

He sighed as he mixed the coffee while he walked back towards Pepper's private office. A wave was sent to an office worker's way, who just groaned at Will's cheeriness in the morning. Will just rolled his eyes and kept on walking. Maybe he shouldn't try to make friends here.

Eventually finding himself back at the door to Stark Industries' CEO's office, will opened the door with the coffee in hand. Pepper was there waiting for him, writing down some notes on a piece of paper. Will handed her the coffee wordlessly, and she took a long swig before picking up the pencil once more to continue writing.

He leaned over the desk to peer at what it was; a to-do list so meticulously made it would give Annabeth a run for her money. Pepper caught his gaze and spoke as she finished the last two lines, "These are your tasks for the day, and I expect you to be back here by noon with the food so we can have some lunch and do the therapeutic exercises for my shoulder. Next on the list after coffee is…" She ran a finger down the paper to find what she was looking for, "Ah! Making the fourteen copies of this stack of papers!"

She grabbed a handle on her desk and pulled to reveal the papers she was talking about. Will looked concernedly at it; it looked really heavy. He grabbed them out of the drawer so Pepper wouldn't have to strain her shoulder getting them for him. Stuffing the to-do list in his back pocket, the demigod smiled and began walking away, "I'll get these on your desk right away!"

As soon as he stepped out of the office, he realized two things. One, he had no clue where the copying machine was. Two, he had no clue how to even _work_ a copying machine. Honestly, if he hadn't seen what one looks like on television, he wouldn't know what it would've looked like.

A mail carrier pushed their cart past him, whistling. On the top shelf of his cart was letters to employees, but the bottom were hundreds of blank papers for people to grab and use. Will smiled; even though he didn't know how to use a copier didn't mean he couldn't copy the reports!

So he borrowed (okay, maybe took all the papers when the mailman wasn't looking) and hurried off to find a place to hand-write all the reports. He sent out a quick prayer to the gods to bless him with decent handwriting, and got to work.

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

His hand hurt _bad._

Gods, the muscles underneath seemed to spasm with even the thought of picking up anything else; it was a miracle he even made it back to Pepper's office without dropping the stack of copied reports that towered past his head. Though seeing her exasperated look at realizing that he copied everything by hand was hilarious to see.

Pepper had already called Tony for him, mainly because he was in the middle of copying papers and had no time to before the conference would have started. He crossed coffee, copy reports, and call Tony off of his list.

That brings him to where he is now; inside a cab watching the rainfall while heading to the Avengers' Tower to check up on the secretary that Pepper apparently doesn't like at all. He clenched his hand tightly to relieve some of the pain, regretting that he had brought no nectar or ambrosia with him to work. No matter; he gripped his hands together as if he were praying and whispered a quick hymn, focusing his energy on healing his hands up.

It didn't take long for him to see a bit of glowing light coming from his palms, but the small bit of light didn't seem to catch the attention of the driver. Will released a breath he didn't realize he was holding when he found that the driver was still looking straight ahead. But along with relief came annoyance; what was it with people ignoring him today?!

But the driver ignoring him was a plus, seeing as if he _did_ see him then it would be kind of awkward to explain light in his hands. He needed all of his social skills to 'check up' on the Avengers' Tower secretary, and he feels as if he's going to have to be able to withstand awkward interactions with whoever is at the front desk. Will traced a rain drop on his window as he vaguely wondered how a person was able to get a secretary job at Avengers' Tower when Pepper didn't like them.

The taxi driver pulled up to the tower, and Will handed the man some money from his wallet to pay for the ride. This close to the building, like he was weeks ago when Pepper was first hurt, he was still impressed by the sheer size of the place. Taking a deep breath, Will walked in the door to see two elevators, a decent lounge area for a lobby, and a large front desk with a man behind the counter.

The son of Apollo put a smile on his face walked up, waving to the man, "Hello! I'm Will Solace, Pepper's new assistant. I'm here to ask a few questions on Miss Potts' behalf?"

The man lazily looked up, and Will had the urge not to cringe. A frown quickly turned into a smile, but Will could tell it was forced. Something behind those dark blue eyes didn't sit well with Will. The man's hair was pulled back into a harsh ponytail, so tight it looked as if it hurt. The amount of gel he used to keep the dark locks slicked back made Will's nose twitch; when Nico used gel, that was on occasion. But at least his boyfriend new the correct amount to _use._

His voice purred as he spoke, "Of course." The man leaned back in his chair and extended a hand, making Will lean over the counter to shake it. The demigod's jaw clenched, "What questions do you have for me, Mr. Solace?"

"Just a few standard ones, um… What's your name?" Will slyly wiped his hand on the front of his pants, trying to rid himself of the feeling of the man's sweaty hand wrapping around his own.

"Chad Brohnson." The greasy-haired man purred. Will gulped.

The son of Apollo got out a piece of paper full of questions Pepper came up with, "Has anyone offered you anything for access to rooms?"

"A few crazed fans, but they were told to leave fairly quickly," Chad got a thoughtful look on his face, "I have a feeling one of them were from the press, but I turned her away as fast as possible. Mr. Stark doesn't want the press crawling about in here."

"And have any of those people try bribing you stay in the lobby?"

"Nope," The man had a smile on his face, "They huffed outta here. Got mad that I wouldn't let them see their precious heroes. But hey, what the boss man says, goes. Not gonna lose my job over a fan or two."

Will nodded. Even though the man seemed a bit slimy and unapproachable, he had good work ethics when it came to keeping people out of the tower, "Alright, fair enough. If a person were to come in offering a gift to an Avenger, what do you do with the gift?"

"Throw it out." Chad said, devoid of any emotion, "You never know what sort of weapon or device could be hidden in a simple gift. Or you know… I could just keep it if I'm that worried and check it myself." He had wickedly sly grin on his face.

The blond clenched his jaw, "Of course that's completely reasonable." It _wasn't_ reasonable; they were supposed to refuse gifts. But he needed honest answers, and if the man was turned off by Will judging him for anything he did, Chad would just put up a facade and fake his answers. No, to get any real information, Will was told to agree with Chad's reasonings so he could find out if he was competent or not. Something just wasn't right in the way he seemed to leer over Will, and neither was the way his eyes lingered around Will's body. Will suppressed a shiver and asked the next question.

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

Nico jumped off a building, something he wasn't planning on doing earlier in the day.

The three basilisks behind him were also new. First he finds himself being shot at by some very tattooed individuals, and the next thing he finds is he's being chased by monsters of all shapes and sizes. Honestly, stopping the gang activity wouldn't be something inherently bad, and it was something Nico was debating for awhile. So he just decided to investigate, and not take part in turning them in quite yet.

But the fact that they had monsters on their side messed up his plan of laying low.

One of his boots were gone, and his sock hit the wet pavement with a splash as he landed and stumbled back into a run. He could hear the pants of a few hellhounds behind him, but he didn't risk looking back, not until he was guaranteed that he would win the fight. The cackle of empousa filled his ears, making the sound of the rain falling be some sort of background noise to the inhuman screeches.

He rounded a corner, one of his legs falling under him as he glided into the empty street. He ran a hand along the wet pavement to balance himself and felt a pull in his gut. As he released his hold on the ground, he heard the sound of pavement crumbling. A wry grin was put on his face as he heard shouts and yelps of surprise as a few fell into his trap.

But some were still there, and he knew that with the little energy he had left he wouldn't be able to shadow travel out of there. It was either he get them off his tail, or kill them. No time to think, a shot of fire flew past his head, burning some hair and making his ear feel bright red. It started ringing, which he thought wasn't such a good thing for it to be doing.

With a shoe lost and an ear not working, Nico jumped up just in time for a claw to miss his legs and made an arc downward with his sword. The hellhound whimpered in surprise and withdrew its paw, but kept running despite the injury.

Now all that was left chasing him were two hellhounds, three basilisks, and either two or three empousa. Not too terrible odds, but Nico would've appreciated any help heading his way. No mortals in sight yet, but Nico had to remember to stick to less populated areas in order to avoid anyone else getting hurt.

Fighting was the only way out of this, then. Nico let out a soft growl as he failed to dodge the second claw swiping at him, hitting his side. It was shallow, thank the gods, but it still stung. That empousa was going to regret that.

Before any of the monsters could react, Nico kicked off of the wall next to him, pushing him out into the street and away from the creatures. He looked up from his kneeling position and smirked before slamming his hand on the concrete.

The shadows swirled around his hand, and his slight umbrakinesis was all it took to make a dozen daggers to shoot out from the darkness at the monsters. Golden dust soon blew in the harsh rainy winds, and a few grains stuck to Nico's skin, giving him an odd ethereal glow. His skin paled at the use of his powers, but he knew he was far from at his limit.

The only creatures left were the basilisks and two empousa. He could take the empousa by themselves with relative ease, but the basilisks were a different story; they were poisonous to the touch, and could kill you with a slight mishap of one's fingertips brushing on their skin. Frank once told Nico a story about a basilisk touching a bow and the bow dissolved in front of him! Not only was that thought terrifying, but they breathed fire. A wonderful combination.

An empousa lunged first, one flanking his left side and the other on his right. He twirled away from one of the claws sent his way, and lashed out with his sword at the other. She hissed in anger and pounced on him, sitting on his back. He bucked backwards to try and get her off of him, but to no avail. A basilisk struck then in his moment of panic, and Nico, wide eyed, whirled around. The snake like monster bit the empousa, but in its rage didn't realize that it wasn't Nico and kept biting it again and again until the she demon was nothing but dust.

Well, that's one way to get rid of a monster.

Nico then decided it was time to finish the fight, and lunged at the last empousa. His blade met her claws, which guided the sword away from her body. He grunted in surprise as he was thrown off balance and fell to the pavement. The three basilisks and the one empousa leered over him, and the son of Hades gulped as the three basilisks blew out fire at his body.

He rolled out from under their attack, the fire grazing his sock and heating up his foot to an unnatural warmth, so much that he winced as he placed some weight on it. The empousa's bright flaming hair snaked its way down her arms and toward Nico, who was still recovering from the last attack.

He jumped backward and landed on his back once more. He pressed his hands toward the ground and felt the street crack beneath his fingertips. Nico knew he only had so much energy left before any use of energy would become life threatening. Hopefully Will would forgive for using so much energy, but that was an argument for another day.

The street cracked outwards from his hand, and his sword glowed a purplish light as he channeled his energy into it. Before the monsters could move, Nico thrust the sword into the premade cracks, and the street opened to reveal a wide chasm. To any onlooker, the hole would seem endless, but Nico knew better. He could see the faint fire at the bottom, knew the pain of being down there.

The monsters clawed at the chasm, trying to climb back up. A basilisk blew forth fire in vain, hitting Nico in the chest, but propelled itself backwards into the pit, screaming the entire way down. Nico grunted at the sudden pain, but kept his sword in the ground to keep the chasm open.

When all had fallen in, along with a couple of cars, Nico twisted his body to feel that tug in his stomach once again, like he was on the drop of a roller coaster, or if Jason dropped him in midair. The hole in the ground closed, and the screeches disappeared, leaving Nico to hear only the rain around him and his own ragged breathing.

He took a moment to assess himself; his ear was burnt, as was his chest and foot. The only other injury was that slash in his side, which could be easily medicated with a sip of nectar. The burns however would need some ambrosia as well. Not too much, seeing as he'd burn to death, but enough to heal up.

One thing Nico knew for sure: if mortals were messing around allying themselves with monsters, then something serious was going on. He needed to talk to Will and investigate this further.

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

Tony Stark and Bruce Banner watched the screen carefully. Small red blips were showing up everywhere on the hologram, and Tony clenched his jaw at the increased number it was from prior weeks.

Bruce looked over, carefully and delicately handling the situation, "You won't be able to catch whoever did this to Pepper with the gang rate as it is, Tony."

The man in question rubbed a hand over his tired eyes. When he had heard that the men who had hurt Pepper had not been caught, he worked like a madman to try and find the culprits. It turns out there was more gang activity in New York than he had originally thought, even with the Avengers stationed there, which made little sense to Tony. People that wanted to commit crimes should want to shy away from the city that the Avengers resided in. Unless the were attention seekers, wanting their name to be known far and wide. Or something was bringing them to NYC, but the first theory sounded much more sound.

"The Avengers are for stopping worldwide crises, Tony," Banner said, minding that gleam in the inventor's eyes, "We don't gather together to stop a few guys in alleyways. That's the police's job, hell, that's _Spiderman's_ job. We'd cause too much collateral damage for this to be a good idea."

"But the increased amount of casualties from these fights is skyrocketing, Bruce!" Tony threw up his arms in exasperation, and although Bruce didn't want to, he had to agree with the billionaire; more and more people were getting hurt.

The scientist frowned, but knew he was going to have to compromise with Tony Stark, "How about this," He licked his dry lips and cleared his throat, "Some Avengers go one patrol together, and the ones that would cause _too_ much damage if involved-" he gestured to himself, "-stay behind. A few people a night just watching the streets." Banner waved his hand, closing the hologram and shutting the laptop in one swoop.

Tony's face broke out into a signature devious smile, but before he could get in another word, Pepper walked in followed by a familiar looking blond man. Tony couldn't place the face with anyone, but he felt like he should.

The blond man was following Pepper like a lost puppy, constantly telling her that she should let him open doors for her. Tony clenched his jaw, faintly wondering if the blond male was trying to 'make moves' on the business woman. His hair was ruffled, like he had run his hand through it over and over again, and his bright blue eyes skimmed over everything in the living room. Tony couldn't see, but Bruce saw the way Will's eyes lingered on exit points in the room, and almost longer when studying the two males in front of him.

Steve did the same thing walking into a new room, as did Natasha and Clint. It was the sign of a trained soldier or spy, but Bruce didn't want to think of the man that way. His face was open, friendly, and the freckles covering his face, neck, and hands gave a childish air to him that made others happy to be around him. Even though his face was etched in worry, he still maintained that air of kindness he wore.

"Miss Potts, you can't risk hurting your shoulder! Let me help you carry your purse!"

Pepper didn't look behind her as she kept walking towards the two scientists, "Will, I think I'll be okay carrying a purse." Bruce took this time to notice the new additions to Pepper's sling; a variety of stickers ranging from gold stars to butterflies. The 'bipolar' man realized this was the same kid that was helping Pepper get better, and he had no doubt Will gave them to her for performing well in physical therapy.

Tony pointed at the blond haired male, "Who're you, kid?"

The man looked almost disappointed, but a gentle smile stayed on his face, "It's Will; I helped-"

"He _saved_ my life. You remember Will, right? The young doctor you were impressed by two weeks ago?" She gestured toward the blushing blond with her purse, who was busy studying his shoes. Tony's eyes lit up in acknowledgement, and Pepper gave a slight grin at realizing that Tony finally remembered the kid, "I'm going to be taking him on a tour of Avenger's Tower today, seeing as I spend much of my time in my office here."

She glanced at WIll one more time, who was bashfully looking up at the two heroes, and gave him a light-hearted glare, "And I need to teach him how to use a copier."

Bruce blinked in surprise, "You don't know how to use a copier?"

Will opened his mouth to defend himself, but Pepper beat him to the punch, "He hand wrote fourteen copies of the business plans, statements, and even drew the color-coded graphs of our finances!" She gave off a slight laugh, and the two men softly laughed along with her.

"It's not my fault I didn't know how to work the gods-damned thing," Will muttered under his breath. He scratched the back of his neck, averting his eyes from the other adults in front of him.

Tony reached over and clapped a hand on the son of Apollo's shoulder, making the blond flinch, and Tony gave him a slight smirk as he spoke, "Don't worry about it, Willy." His grin spread as he saw the kid visible cringe at the nickname, "We'll teach you the basics."

Pepper grabbed Will's arm, no easy feat while she was still clutching her purse, and yanked Will out of Tony's grasp, " _You_ will not be corrupting my assistant."

Banner and Will both smiled as the two of them bickered with one another. As the two argued with one another on who was going to teach Will, Bruce held out a hand to the blond, "My name's Bruce Banner. I take it you're Pepper's physical therapist?"

Will smiled widely and clasped Bruce's hand in his own. Bruce wondered if it was a trick of the light, or if Will's freckles glowed slightly, "Yeah. I'm Will Solace." His fingers were long and nimble, wrapping almost around the side of Bruce's wrist as they shook hands.

"It's nice to meet you, Will." They released hands, and Bruce continued on, "So what type of techniques are you using for her therapy?"

Will shrugged, "Nothing to extraneous to start; we did a few simple stretches today. In a few weeks she should be able to strengthen it by using weights, but so far all we've managed were simple shoulder rolls."

Bruce nodded his head, understanding the situation. Physical therapy was a hard thing to do, especially when it involved rehabilitating an entire rotator cuff and some torn tendons, "Are you going to college for any of your doctoring yet?"

"No, I'm not," Will shook his head before putting his hand on his chin, "I've been thinking about going, but I'm just not sure where to go. And I still don't have enough personal funds to go anywhere out of state."

"You don't have to go out of state for a good college, Will. There are many good medical schools in New York, you just have to look." Bruce gave the younger man a large smile, warming Will's heart and lifting his spirits. Maybe he _could_ go to college, even with his responsibility to be at Camp, "Maybe I can help you hunt for some decent colleges, yeah? It'd be fun to see how the educational systems have changed since I've been."

Will gave a wry grin up at the doctor in front of him, and although he couldn't tell, the freckles on his hands flashed a dull golden color, telling of how happy he was with the offer, "That would be great, Dr. Banner."

"Call me Bruce." The two men grinned at each other before Will felt a sharp-nailed hand wrap around his arm and pull him away. He gave a yelp of surprise as the injured woman held him close to her side with her good arm, and he was shocked to see that her good arm was still incredibly strong.

She narrowed her eyes at Tony Stark, "I'm going to be taking _my_ assistant to my office and show him the basics. _You_ are going to leave him alone while this is happening; understood?"

Both men nodded, but if she was right, then as soon as Will's job was over, he'd be stolen by Tony. Which might be a problem, since she had overheard from Tony that last he had called, he had a supposed 'girlfriend' that was supposed to go on a date with him later that night.

Three hours later, and with many papercuts acquired, Will collapsed in one of Pepper's spinning chairs, not bothering to slow down the spins with his foot. He looked up as Pepper cleared her throat, sighing at the sight of the tired boy. She had overworked him, and everything Pepper had mentioned must have been overwhelming on the first day, "Will, you're free to go."

He lifted up his head from the chair, "Are you sure there isn't anything else to do?" Pepper smiled at him, happy that he would ask even in the exhausted state he was in. The kid was too nice for his own good, "I could get you a heating ack for your shoulder, or-"

"Will, just go out with your date," She chuckled, "I realize that Tony and I had interrupted one with your girlfriend earlier, so you should make it up to her. Get her some flowers, or chocolate and have a nice night."

A smile passed over on Will's lips before he doubled over with laughter. Gods, imagining Nico wearing a dress was the funniest thing he had ever thought of, much less thinking of his reaction for getting flowers for him. Pepper looked at the chortling boy, obviously confused, and asked for clarification on why he was careening with laughter. Will smothered his giggles with a hand on his mouth, "I don't have a girlfriend, but now I'm imagining my boyfriend with a dress on with flowers in his hair and _gods it's the funniest shit ever."_ He collapsed in a pile of laughter once more, and his freckles seemed to glow unnaturally.

Pepper's eyes widened, "I didn't think you had a boyfriend."

"Sorry I didn't wear my rainbow pants and unicorn shirt," Will said sarcastically, a bit of the bite in the sentence gone seeing as he was still muffling his wheezing giggles.

She shook her head and held her hands up, "It wasn't meant to come off like that, it's just that Tony told me we accidentally interrupted a date you were having with your girlfriend."

"He was assuming," Will explained, "I was taking a walk with my boyfriend. Not really a date, but we both like walking together." Well, that and they were on a mission, so it doesn't technically count as a date to Will.

Pepper gave a soft smile towards Will, "You should bring him over sometime." She closed a few filing cabinets left open with her good arm as she spoke, "Does he work in the area?"

"Nico works as a counselor for the camp we met at." Will mused, "I suppose if we ask some friends to cover some of the activities he teaches, Nico could come over sometime at the end of the week."

"That sounds perfect," Pepper smiled, "We could all go out to lunch together during our break, and maybe he can help you with the copier machine."

Will stood up and stretched, waggling a finger in her direction as they walked out of the room together, "He'd probably just ignore it. Nico doesn't work with paper often, so he probably doesn't know how to work one either."

"So both of you are useless when it comes to machinery," She deadpanned.

He scratched the back of his head, a light blush on his face as he gave a nervous laugh, "Heh, I guess we are, aren't we?" Pepper bumped her hip on his playfully, making him stumble a bit and come up cursing about how her arm could get hurt. She gave a light laugh at the many colorful curses; at first glance, one wouldn't think the happy man to be able to swear so profusely. Part of her wanted to laugh, and the other wanted to chastise him for his use of language; there was something so childlike about him that made her want to mother him.

As they entered the elevator, Will got out his buzzing phone, sheepishly looking over at Pepper as though he needed permission to answer it. She rolled her eyes and nudged the phone, and the man smiled before holding it up to his ear, "Hey Neeks. What's up?"

Ah, so he was talking to his boyfriend. The music in the elevator poured over them as he spoke calmly, "Yeah, I'm leaving the Tower now. Do you need me to pick up anything from the store?" There was a slight pause before Will nodded, "Orange juice, okay. That it? You sound a bit stressed."

Pepper mouthed, 'Is he okay?' and Will shrugged innocently back.

It looked as if he were in deep thought, and Pepper could a hear a low voice talking quickly on the other line, "Nico, I'll be home in a bit, and then we can talk about this more." Will sounded a bit worried, thus making Pepper worry. Way too much worry condensed in one elevator.

As soon as the elevators opened to the front lobby, Will bolted, running to the street and hailed a cab. Pepper noticed that Chad, the soon-to-be fired secretary, was glancing in Will's direction, and she could tell it wasn't in a good way. She quickly walked over to the desk and leaned on the counter, mindful of the _beautifully_ sticker-decorated sling. Chad looked up at her in confusion, and she just spoke quietly and quickly, "Don't bother coming in tomorrow. Or ever."

The look on his face almost made Will laugh as he turned around to say goodbye, but the taxi driver yelled at him to get in. So he did.

 **PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ**

 **A bit of a longer chapter, but I have a feeling no one's really complaining about long chapters on here. You know the drill guys, any questions, comments, concerns, issues, you either PM me or review your question! I try to answer everyone's questions using private messaging. But to one of our guests and to one user, I'll put this answer on here (mainly because I don't want to have to explain my mad reasoning again and again).**

 **Yes, I made Will shorter than Nico. Here's the reason I had PM'd to a follower of this story: '** **When I had originally started writing this, I had made Will taller than Nico. But then I remembered two bits of information: Nico still hadn't hit puberty by the end of BoO (he was only around 15, such a tiny flower child), and Hades, at least in the series, is described as a 'very tall, imposing and very muscular god'. I wanted Nico to grow up looking a bit more like his father Hades, seeing as he is his son. Hades is a very intimidating character, and because of this, Nico should be intimidating in his own way as well, so I made him be a bit taller than Will. Thus, as the two had been getting older, Nico started getting taller than Will (much to Will's disappointment, however, seeing as he liked to cuddle smol Nico).'**

 **And that's the reason why! I want to thank everyone who's favorited, followed and reviewed this story; it means so much to me. So remember, review, ask questions, and PM me if you have any cool prompts or ideas! I love hearing everyone's ideas ;w;**

 **With Love, Hate**


	5. Chapter 5

Nico di Angelo was a man of simple needs. Some food, water, sleep, and his boyfriend made him pretty happy and comfortable with his life. Will, although a bit more sensitive to needs and wants, was very similar in this aspect. Unfortunately, Will liked his sleep, which Nico has gone time and time again without on numerous occasions.

The son of Apollo whined softly and tugged on Nico's aviator jacket, pressing his body against the man's side, "Nicoooo, we've patrolled enough with no sign of any sort of monster, and I have work tomorrow! Can we go home and sleep?" He put on a puppy face, wrinkling his nose and widening his bright blue eyes. Nico looked at the face, flinched, and forced himself to look away in fear of succumbing to the pleading eyes of Will.

Will sighed as Nico looked away and tried again, "You and I have a lunch date with Miss Potts and Mr. Stark tomorrow at noon! It is _one in the morning!_ " Will lightly hit Nico's shoulder before leaning over and putting most of his bodyweight on his boyfriend, who grunted at the sudden weight, but just looped his arm around Will's waist and kept walking.

"But I have a feeling we're so close!" Nico mused, "It's dangerous enough with the increased monster activity in cities across the country, but _monsters_ working with _mortals?_ This isn't a good situation to be in!"

The son of Apollo kept his weight on Nico, "I understand, but we've been doing this since after we had dinner! Please, let's just get _some_ rest." Nico looked down and watched carefully at Will's bright blue eyes, "Nothing is happening anyway, so-"

Before the next word left his mouth, Will's stomach churned as a large noise, much like that of a gavel in court, was heard two streets away, "Nevermind. Let's go investigate."

Nico smirked as Will stood up straight and the both of them began running in the direction of the sound. Hurriedly hushed whispers broke out not a second later, and Nico grabbed Will's wrist, ducking underneath a car and making their way to the scene without being visible.

A large voiced boomed amidst the mass of undertoned speaking, commanding ears to listen, "Mortals and not, must we stand alone in this time of need? Are we not all lowly creatures, called to be silent and obedient? The monotony of our days does not define us!" Will and Nico peeked through the window of a car, seeing a large mass of monsters and humans alike. The speaker, although loud, was hidden from view, but the large amount of light from behind the crowd shows he was important in some way.

Nico leaned over and whispered, "So a congregation. And it's not even Sunday." Will hushed him with a wave of his hand, listening to the booming voice across the street. He wasn't sure why, but the nagging voice felt like this speech was supposed to be important.

The glowing light seemed to pulse with the loud voice, emphasizing his points and drawing all attention to his words, "The mediocrity of this world is sickening. Shall we celebrate and honor every little thing these authorities do?" A large resounding 'no' reverberated through the crowd as the silky voice continued, "Authorities, governments or even gods try to define who we are, giving us labels to prove our little self-worth, as if that is all we will ever be. Thieves, rapists, failures, beggars of man. _Monsters_. Will we listen to these figures of stature that belittle us?!"

" _NO!"_

"That's what I thought." Will grabbed Nico's arm and pushed himself up slightly, trying to get a peek of whoever was talking. He wanted to know the truth behind the words, and who was brave enough to speak against the gods themself. Nico quickly wrapped himself around Will to pull him back down, whispering about the dangerous situation they were in, but the voice took immediate demand, and the boys could do nothing but listen to the alluring voice, "Our numbers grow day by day, our attempts for free reign continue, and soon my brethren…"

Nico laced his fingers in Will's as they began running the opposite direction, trying to block out the man's sound. Will's eyes looked glazed over, his breathing quiet and his lips moving in sync with the speakers.

"We will be _free_."

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

Nico didn't want to leave Will for a second that afternoon, but settled for knowing that they'd be able to be together for lunch. Sure, it'd be with people that he didn't know too well, but Will had started acting strangely after hearing that… sermon, or whatever the guy was preaching.

When they stepped into their apartment together the night before, Will had been in hysterics. His eyes seemed to have a constant film over them, as if his body was in the room, but his mind certainly was not. With tears streaming down his face, the son of Apollo kept murmuring about how every day was blending into the next, that he was going to die a failure of a doctor one day, and there was nothing he could to stop that. It took an hour for Nico to calm him down, and getting him to sleep was even harder. But eventually his breaths had evened out against the Ghost King's chest, who was trying his best not to take shaky, worried breaths.

By the time the morning had come, Will was significantly better. Nico's eyes narrowed at the cheery look in Solace's eyes, the joy coming off of him strange compared to last night's struggle for sleep. The only reason Nico knew that it was fake was from looking carefully; he watched as Will's eyes didn't light up, how the roots of his hair remained a soft golden color, and how his freckles didn't even slightly glow.

The son of Hades bounced his leg in the cab he was in, sent personally for him from Mr. Tony Stark himself (Nico had to remind himself not to accidentally call him Howard, as the name was better known in his time. He may have been a child, but he remembered the impact Tony's father had across the world, including in Italy.) Nico looked forward to see Will again and clutched the aviator's jacket to his chest, fiddling with one of the patches on the sleeve.

The cab driver stopped in front of a large brick building, and Nico's eyes widened at the fancily pillared establishment. He could afford it, of course (being the son of a god of wealth had its perks), but he did chuckle in amusement at the Italian restaurant. _Notte Stellata_ was a beautiful place, and a name like 'Starry Night' suggested an equally beautiful dining experience, even for lunch. He reached in his wallet for some cash for the cabbie driver, but the man held up a hand, "Already been paid, kid."

Nico shrugged and unbuckled his seatbelt before stepping out onto a near-empty sidewalk, pretty uncommon for the streets of New York. He watched silently as a couple of well-dressed individuals walked in, dressed to the nines as the door was opened for them. Nico looked down at his tattered jeans and frayed jacket, wishing he actually brushed his hair that morning instead of just running his fingers through it.

To make up for it the best he could, he took a hair band off his wrist and tied it up to try and look a bit more presentable. His feet stepped forward while his mind stayed behind him, heading straight for those closed doors. A hand was held out, and Nico stopped abruptly in his walk, watching the glint of the many rings adorning the fingers. He heard someone clearing their throat and he looked up to see a man raising an eyebrow at him, "Well?"

Nico coughed, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

The doorman rolled his eyes, "This is a place solely for customers only. Not for loiterers to hang around, so beat it." This time, Nico rolled his eyes. He cocked his hip slightly, imitating the man in front of him and put on one of his best shit-eating grins.

"Oh sir, but I _am_ a customer. And you shouldn't deny service to anyone, now should you?"

The bejeweled man scoffed, but begrudgingly held the door for Nico to pass through, "I trust you'll enjoy your meal."

" _Spero così."_ (I'm hoping so.) Nico smiled at the slight tick in the man's eyebrow at the italian words thrown at him, but walked through the now open doors. His eyes widened looking around; it seemed the name 'Starry Night' was a hint at the restaurant's theme; every wall had some replica of a famous painting made by Van Gogh, and the painting the place was named after hung above a large fountain, showcasing its brilliance to all patrons.

Nico tore his eyes from the sheer beauty of the place, smirking at the columns and thinking of a certain blonde-haired friend of his. When his eyes suddenly landed on a brilliant head of gold looking away from his direction, a wry grin was set on his face. He took a step forward to see him again, but was stopped by the host.

The fancy woman looked at him, not seeming as if she cared about his lack of formal dress, "Do you have a reservation sir?"

Nico pointed at the table his boyfriend was at, "Actually I see my date right there, but thank you." The woman smiled and waved him on, to which Nico was grateful she dropped the interaction quickly to deal with the next customer.

He was definitely in line of Pepper and Tony's sight, but because they didn't recognize him, they paid him no mind. That was, until the son of Hades quietly made his way over to hear a small snort of laughter leave Will's lips at a comment Stark had made. A thin hand was placed on Will's shoulder, and Will, recognizing the weight of the ring seemingly instantly, whipped around to smile at the man behind him, "Nico! I'm happy you came!"

He chuckled lightly, keeping his eyes on his happy boyfriend instead of those of Stark and Miss Potts, "Well, you _did_ invite me, Solace." Will gave a smile at the small laugh Nico made before pulling out the chair next to him and patting it.

He sat down carefully and slowly, tearing his eyes away from the slightly glowing freckles to look at the people sitting across from them. Stark, as all the news and tabloids said, even _looked_ egotistical in nature. His eyes lazily ran themselves up Nico, seeming to size him up. Pepper gave him an almost identical look, but hers seemed more… statistical, like she was trying to figure out a difficult problem in front of her.

Nico stared blatantly back, but a slight cough from Will broke everyone's stares and they all looked at his blushing face, "So um, this is a nice place, right?"

The son of Hades gave a small smirk, "Yeah it is. The doorman at the front was something left to be desired, but you can't always get what you want, eh, Will?"

Said boy laughed lightly at the slightly smug look on the other's face, and Miss Potts took the moment to reach her good arm across the table toward Nico, "You must be Will's boyfriend. I'm Virginia Potts, but please call me Pepper." Nico gave a small smile and gripped her hand, shaking it firmly, "And this is Tony."

"Tony Stark, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and a genius engineer if I'm correct?" Nico practically purred, stroking the man's ego just right, and released Pepper's hand.

Tony smirked and held his hand out, "You forgot superhero, but I can let that slide."

As the four of them talked while sipping their waters, Will noticed Nico was playing to his advantages. He acted sweeter than normal, and kept slightly flattering Tony every time he could. Will realized about halfway into a conversation that Nico was trying to get on Tony's good side; but for _what?_

In the middle of Tony recounting something Clint Barton had said (to which Will was paying rapt attention to), a waiter had made his way over to take their order. He spoke in a thick Italian accent, asking what they'd like to drink and the orders they had for lunch. Saying their respective food items, the waiter's gaze finally landed on Nico, who hadn't said a word to the man as of yet.

"And you, young man?" Will cracked a grin at the comment, concealing a laugh in a cough that didn't go unnoticed by Tony or Pepper who smiled in amusement.

Nico just let a small scowl slip onto his face as he spoke quietly to the man, "I'll just stick with water and some _risotto alla zucca_ , _per favore_." The small slip of 'please' in Italian caused the waiter to raise an eyebrow in a slight sneer, who leaned over a small bit to hover over the demigod.

"Are you making fun of my accent, _piccolo uomo?_ " (Little man) As Tony raised his eyebrows, carefully watching the interaction, a sort of stricken look overcame Pepper's face. Will smiled at her and waved a hand, motioning for her to calm down.

Nico rolled his eyes before crossing his arms over his chest, " _È possibile ottenere a noi il nostro cibo come un buon cameriere?_ " (Can you just get us our food like a good waiter?) Will gave a soft snort at the man's incredulous face, to which Nico's mouth twitched upward at the sound. The waiter gave off a slight huff before turning on his heel and walking off. A small shadow quivered under the man's shoe, and Will gave Nico a light pat on his forearm, signalling for him to knock it off.

The rest of the meal continued on uneventfully. Although it was rather embarrassing for Nico, considering that when Will left to use the restroom, the older couple (to him, not so much) began questioning him about his and Will's relationship.

It was Pepper, actually, who had brought it up first, twirling her fork in her pasta, "So how long have you and Will been dating, Nico?"

The son of Hades swallowed his risotto before answering quietly, "For about four years. Our anniversary is in December." He gave a slight chuckle that sounded nervous in his own ears, "I'm not sure what to do about it yet, actually."

"Yeah, yeah," Tony sighed. He poked a fork in Nico's direction, "So you're, what, nineteen?"

Nico wanted to say no, he was nearing eighty, but he knew the joke would be lost and that'd just be awkward, "Yeah. We're both nineteen."

"And you _live_ together?"

A blush spread across Nico's cheeks, his pale complexion giving way the embarrassment he felt, "W-We've been living together for a while now, actually. Since last year."

Pepper's eyes widened, "But aren't you two a little _young_ to be living together?" She ran a finger along the edge of her glass, watching Nico's reactions carefully, "Do his parents know? What about your parents? I don't want to act like a nagging mother here, but Will _is_ my employee, and I take excellent care of people who take excellent care of me in return."

"His parents both know," Nico shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the staring gazes of the adults. This was almost worse than when he had to talk to Apollo (actually, Apollo came to talk to him. Mrs. Solace was nice to him and tried to calm the god down the entire discussion), "And my father knows of us living together as well. Both sides of the family approve, and we're in a happy relationship."

As Tony was opening his mouth- no doubt to make some sort of sarcastic comment- Will returned to his seat. He took a small sip of water before noticing the awkward lull in conversation, "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing at all, Will," Nico chuckled, practically stabbing the risotto in front of him, "Nothing at all."

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

Will hung up his white coat at the end of the night, revelling in the familiarity of the infirmary around him. Him being tired was an understatement; because of his and Nico's late night hunting monsters and working with Miss Potts until five in the evening, he was exhausted. But Nico had to talk to Chiron about what had happened, and Will decided to help out in the infirmary for the night.

And it was _busy_. He had two campers sick in bed (some sort of flu going around), a climbing wall accident, and another three people brutally maimed in another game of Capture the Flag. To a fully rested Will, all of them would've been doable by him and maybe two more of his siblings and he would have had energy to spare. But to current Will, he was tired and about to collapse. He _hated_ staying up late and waking up early, but Nico seemed to be unaffected by the lack of sleep.

A sigh was halfway out of his mouth when he saw a familiar figure walk through the door, whistling to himself. Will Solace smiled, "What's up, my man?"

Cecil stopped whistling to smile widely at the son of Apollo, "Nothing much, Solace, how 'bout you?" Will replied similarly to Cecil's response, and Cecil spoke again, "Have you and Neeks been getting along?"

"Yeah, we are," Will leaned up against one of the beds, motioning for Cecil to join him, "Just came to talk to Chiron about New York."

His eyes widened, "Well that doesn't sound like 'nothing much' to me, Will. What's going on in the city that's got Nico coming to Chiron?"

Will leaned his shoulder onto Cecil's, kicking his feet on the floor under them, "Honestly I'm not too sure." He thought back to the night before, but all he could really remember was a sort of golden light making him feel lighter the closer he went to it. Will shook his head before answering, "My memory feels a bit fuzzy, but Nico says I was acting strangely afterwards. Weird, right?"

"Yeah, that _is_ pretty strange," Cecil murmured, "How strangely are you talkin'?"

"Not sure of that either." Will admitted, "Nico looked uncomfortable talking about it, so I assumed it's how I act after a nightmare." Cecil glanced toward the sorrow-filled face of Will before the doctor waved his hands, "Hey, they _have_ been getting better! It just… wasn't a good night for me yesterday."

Cecil snorted, "Whatever you say, dude. Hey, Lou Ellen and I were going to see if we could sneak some food from the kitchen and head to the beach; you in?"

Not missing a beat, Will agreed. He scrawled out a quick note for Nico before he left with his friend.

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

"This is troublesome news, Nico. Are you sure this is what you saw?" Chiron asked patiently, his tail flicking back and forth.

Nico looked carefully up into the centaur's eyes, letting the older search him for any falsehood, "Chiron, I know what I saw. The question is what do we do now?"

Chiron stayed silent a moment, pacing around the large table. Mr. D was keeping quiet the entire time, asleep on the table, thankfully. Nico wasn't sure if he'd want the god to be awake; Dionysus was never pleased with anything. A moment or two passed before Chiron spoke once again, "We won't summon the war council for now, so let's keep this between us. Try to find more information if you can, and make sure Will won't go near the speaker again."

"Wasn't planning on Will coming anymore anyways." Nico muttered. To say the two were worried about the doctor would be putting it lightly; something had controlled his emotions last night, and Nico wasn't going to let Will be in that hysterical state again.

Chiron cleared his throat to dispel the sudden bout of silence, "Well now that that's out of the way, how've you and Will been, Nico?"

"It's actually going pretty great," Nico shrugged, "Will just got a job as Pepper Potts assistant, I'm working here at camp, the nightmares are slowly leaving him and me. We're not just surviving anymore, Chiron," The son of Hades gave off one of his rare smiles, "We are _living_."

The centaur smiled back, clasping a hand around the smaller's shoulder, "That's wonderful, Nico. It's getting late, my boy. How about you and Will start heading back home, hm? In a few days, Hazel and Frank should be coming to Camp. Rest up until then."

"We will."

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

 **Sorry for the late update; I've been sick lately and teachers have been more or less dumping stuff on me. Being in three different orchestras takes a toll on you haha**

 **If any of you are concerned with my 'Can You Help' story, it will be continuing, I've just been stuck with how to move the next part :/ Thanks for your patience!**

 **With Love,**

 **Hate**


	6. Chapter 6

**This chapter is dedicated to the guest that gave me a review that only said this...** ::))))))))))) **And to the other guest that all they said was "** SQUUUUEEEEEEEE" **because goddamn that's some funny stuff to me.**

 **Thank you for making me smile, my good reader. Thank you.**

 **PJPJPJPJPJPJPJ**

Rosalina, a small eight-year-old tartarus bent on learning how to use a sword, grimaced as she was yet again tossed aside by the instructor in front of her. Although she was small and the stumble hurt a bit more than an average scrape, she grabbed her dual swords and held them up to block the oncoming attack. The dark-haired teen that taught her didn't wait around for anyone to recover, knowing that monsters were relentless beings and that Rosa was _just_ as relentless in battle.

Nico struck down harshly, enough pressure to make the child strain, but not enough to completely overpower her, "Rosa, you're small. Use that and your speed to your advantage." She stood up as she pushed his sword off of hers and wiped her forehead to get rid of the sweat. Nico put himself in a battle stance once more, his dark eyes piercing into her, "You can't use your brute strength like your fellow Ares siblings. You may be young, but you gotta use your energy knowingly."

Rosa didn't say anything before darting one way, feigning left and then pushing right at the last moment, taking Nico off guard and making him scramble to block the dual swords with his one. The battle marched on for another five minutes, Rosa going completely on the offensive before feeling herself tire.

Nico resisted the urge to smirk; although she was young and inexperienced, her enthusiasm in battle made up for it. He hoped that her siblings watching on from the sidelines could learn something from her, and the son of Hades knew that Clarisse must be beaming at the small girl, despite her protests for any sort of affection held there.

Before she could think to go defensive, Nico disarmed her and held the tip of his blade near her chest, a large smile on his face. "I don't know if any of you saw," He began, "But your youngest sibling did better than most of you when facing me or your cabin leader."

One camper snarled and raised his hand, "She _lost_ , just like the rest of us!"

"But she took it seriously." Nico explained. He grabbed the discarded swords off the ground and handed them to Rosa, watching her face break into a small smile at the praise, "Unlike the rest of you, she treated me not as her authority to be respected or as her friend, but as a monster. Next time we fight, Rosa, please take note of when to switch from offensive to defensive, alright?"

She nodded before sheathing her swords at her hips, "Thank you, Mr. Nico!" A contented sigh left Nico's lips at the small show of gratitude, reminding him that although his job was taxing, the younger kids made it worth it. He opened his mouth to give her similar thanks when a familiar voice called out from the arena's entrance.

"Does anyone need any medical assistance, nectar, or ambrosia?" A wry grin fell on Nico's face as he whipped around to see his boyfriend carrying his infirmary supplies, looking over the bodies of the campers for injuries. "Looks like Nico and Clarisse went easier on you today, yeah?"

Clarisse snorted before walking over and clasping him hard on the shoulder, making Will stumble a bit while walking, "Hardly. They just didn't push themselves like they should've. Only one who needs any ambrosia would be lil' Rosa."

"Rosa!" Will smiled, gesturing at the supplies in his hands before setting them down, "C'mon, I'll get you all patched up. Shame that you're the only one who knows how to fight decently well in your cabin. Besides Clarisse, of course." The girl giggled shyly as he winked at her, and Rosa walked over to wrap up the small scrapes on her body.

The camper from earlier, an older one from the looks of it, sneered at the thought of an _Apollo_ kid back talking how he and his siblings fought. "You're just a doctor! How would you know what decent fighting even is?" Some of the Ares' kids laughed with him, but Clarisse just raised her eyebrows.

"I wouldn't egg him on, if I were-"

"Let it go, La Rue," Will grinned, "At least _we_ know who would win in a fight, right?" He motioned his hands toward herself, Nico, and Rosa, who giggled again at being included with the older campers. He wrapped up the last scrape on her hand and kissed it for good measure, "Take care of your hands, Rosa!"

She smiled, but before she could say thank you to Mr. Will, the angry camper stepped forward, "I'm pretty sure any of us could take you down in a fight, Solace!" His sneer marred his face, and Will raised his eyebrow at the outburst.

Nico smiled, "Are you sure you want to fight with Will? He can be pretty ruthless. You know, being a _doctor_ and all."

Before too long, both Will and Keegan, the Ares camper, were suited up in sets of armor typically used for Capture the Flag, one smiling and the other glaring. Nico was fixing Will's shoulder strap, whispering lightly in his ear, "You know, you _should_ be resting, not fighting campers. It's your day off of work, Will. And Chiron told you to take it easy."

"Gotta stay limber, right?" Will smiled, turning his helmet covered head and lightly kissing Nico's cheek, "Besides, it'll be a good warm up for when Hazel and Frank get here. Get the jitters out."

Nico smiled and grabbed Will's knife before handing it to him, "Just go easy on them. They've never seen the _Great Solace_ fight before."

Will just rolled his eyes, flicking the knife in his hand once in the air to feel the familiarity of the weapon once again. Nico walked calmly over to Clarisse, who was watching Keegan get his armor on with a bit of struggle. She nudged the Ghost King with her shoulder, "Will'll beat 'im, yeah?"

"Kid doesn't stand a chance; gods, have you _seen_ Will fight?"

Clarisse shook her head, "No, but I've heard stories about Will fighting between healing others. Not too strong or fast from what I heard, but his accuracy with a knife is damn near perfect." Nico nodded at Clarisse's description of Will, agreeing with her fully, "What's he fight like, Di Angelo?"

"Will may not be able to overpower him, but he could probably take down Percy if he was smart about it, which he's smart about everything," Nico mused, tapping his chin, "The difference between how most people fight and how Will fights comes down to knowledge. Will somewhat toys with his opponents at first to figure out how they function, what tendons make a Hydra's head move, what muscles helps harpies' wings flap. When fighting a new monster, you want Will on your side."

"But the kid's a human, a body that Will knows inside and out."

" _Exactly."_ A chuckle left Nico's lips, "Will knows every little thing he can about what can build up the human body, and how to tear it down. Last time we sparred without powers, he hit my pressure points and I was paralyzed for a good five minutes."

Clarisse whistled lowly, watching how Will expertly was thrusting his knife in the air to prepare himself for the oncoming fight, "Keegan should watch his mouth."

The two counselors laughed at the comment, and Rosa anxiously walked over, bandages still on her hands and a satyr-printed bandage on her arm. She looked nervous as she walked over to the adults, but at the smiles that were sent her way, she warmed up rather quickly. Nico smiled down at her; he vaguely wondered what it was about the younger demigods that made him happier, "Hey Rosa. You excited to watch your brother lose?"

She threw her head back and laughed, her dark hair looked tangled when introduced to the light in the arena, "Yeah! Mr. Will looks tough!" Clarisse laughed and grabbed the girl by the shoulders, lifting her onto her back in one swing. Nico has always been impressed by the easy strength that came to being an Ares' child.

"That's 'cuz he is, Rosalina." La Rue grunted out, watching as Keegan picked up a large sword before flipping it in his hand to test the weight. The son of Ares seemed to look confident in the fact that Will only wielded a thin knife.

Rosa still looked vaguely concerned, "But all he has is that knife… Keegan uses big swords."

Nico gave her a reassuring smile and crossed his arms over the orange camp t-shirt. "Just because he has a different and smaller weapon doesn't mean he's going to lose. I thought we taught you better than that," he teased.

She looked offended that he even went far into the teasing that he insulted her learning habits, but cooled her head fast enough. She's seen enough hotheadedness from her siblings to know that it would only get her in trouble, "So he's good at fighting?"

"You'll just have to wait and see."

Will looked over at the three and waved at them, a small smile on his face. Nico snorted in amusement before covering up the sound, while Rosa giggled so much that Clarisse let loose a deep chuckle. He looked so calm in the suit of armor; an oxymoron, really, seeing as he usually never wore armor (although no one could blame him; he needed his full range of motion to help cure others). So when Nico looked at his stunning boyfriend in golden armor, accentuating his golden hair and making his blue eyes shine in the sunlight - yeah, it was a sight to behold. Will really _did_ get some patented Apollo looks.

It was finally time to spar, and Clarisse held her hand up in the air, shouting at the two of them, "Alright, you know the rules! Try not to maim, or else no dessert for a week. First one to be incapacitated or knocked out loses. Are you guys ready?"

Will nodded, as did Keegan. One was glaring at the other, while Will kept a carefree grin on his face, like this was a normal Tuesday for him. Which, in a way, the idea of sparring with someone really was normal. Though one could look closely and see the dangerous glint in his eyes, a certain madness that could rival one of Tantalus' evil glares. Clarisse cleared her throat, stopping a moment to see Hazel slip in with curious eyes, "Well then, begin!"

Keegan struck out first, using his strength to his advantage and arcing the sword downward toward Will. The son of Apollo barely had enough time to glide left, making sure nothing would get hurt. He didn't raise his knife just yet, but he did strike with his foot at Keegan's chest, making him stumble backwards.

It just made the Ares child more angry and frustrated. A _doctor_ who spends all day in the infirmary wasn't going to best him! He stabbed the sword straight forward, narrowly missing Will by a few inches. Will had to admit, the teen was strong and quick on his feet. But still, Nico was quicker, so Will didn't have that much of a problem keeping up. A grin was on his face as he slashed out playfully with the knife, not intending to do anything other than tease Keegan, "You favor your right side, hm? Interesting."

Keegan gave a growl of frustration before using his elbow to throw a jab in Will's direction, who took a step backward once more to avoid it. He seemed to look at the right arm curiously, "You know, favoring one side of your body over the other is unhealthy." Before Keegan could retort, Will threw a quick jab to Keegan's left shoulder, making sure the knife wouldn't hit him, "Spinal misalignment, lack of blood flow, headaches, and most importantly…"

Will flicked the knife upward, cutting a leather strap off the shoulder, the small movement quickly removing the left arm's armor immediately. The son of Apollo kicked Keegan's sword out of his hand before hitting nerves and veins that popped out to his eyes. It seemed in intense battle, he could _feel_ the body of his opponent, knowing exactly what he needed to do to win, "You'll get poor circulation to certain appendages."

The son of Ares cried out as his left arm was rendered useless. He couldn't feel his fingers anymore, and every time he tried to move them it felt as if a fire was being set to his veins, like he had slept far too long on his hand. Keegan struggled to pick up the broadsword with his right hand, not used to keeping the weight of it on one hand only. Will smiled gently at him, "If I had stabbed you with my knife right _here_ ," Will avoided the kick sent his way as he punched the space where Keegan's neck connected to his shoulder, "I would've hit one of your major arteries." Keegan winced at the sharp and painful hit, "Death would've been imminent in about ten, maybe fifteen minutes."

"Shut the hell up!" Keegan threw himself forward, pointing his sword towards Will's thigh and lifted his leg at the same time. Will could only dodge one of the attacks, since they were coming at him from two different angles, so the kick hit him in the stomach. Will doubled over in pain, and there wasn't enough time for him to say a quick hymn before another knee was sent upward to his stomach.

But Will was prepared that time, and grabbed behind the knee, holding his leg up. He coughed twice as Keegan desperately tried to find his balance, "Your center of gravity is higher than mine, so you're easier to tip over as well." He jumped forward, forcing Keegan onto his back on the dirt. A grin swept over Will's face as he realized he was only a cry of 'uncle' away until winning. He swung the knife expertly in the air before stabbing downward at Keegan's only usable arm, getting in between the chinks of the armor to the ground, effectively pinning him down.

Keegan dropped the broadsword as he felt the knife bite his forearm; not enough to brutally hurt him, but enough to draw a hiss of pain from underneath his breath. He looked up, completely useless in the position he was in, and saw the smiling son of Apollo seeming to happily gloat over him. Will pressed a knee too Keegan's chest armor, and the son of Ares looked away before angrily whispering, "I yield."

"As you should've before you decided to fight 'im." Clarisse grinned sharply at her younger half sibling. She pointed the predatory grin to the rest of her cabin mates, "Hit the showers! We have Capture the Flag tonight, so everyone needs to be on their best game!"

A few mumbles of 'yes ma'ams' rang through the small crowd, and the kids and teens dispersed, ready to wash off the dirt and bruises covering them. Will smiled at the sight, knowing that tomorrow they'll be much more determined, before turning his grin toward a familiar face, "Hazel! What's up, sweetheart?"

A small smile graced her, and she wrapped an arm around Nico's waist as she spoke, "I came to see some awesome counselors and my favorite big brother!"

"Technically with that logic I'm also your least favorite big brother." Hazel lightly slapped his arm, silencing Nico.

Clarisse gave a wry grin, almost predatory, and focused on the golden eyes of the daughter of Pluto, "How do you think your bro's boyfriend did, Levesque?"

She let go of her brother to grab the upper arms of Will, laughing a bit as she did. Her dark hair seemed to glitter in the sun, along with her sparkling teeth, "You did amazing! How'd you get him pinned down so quickly?"

"Dumb luck and doctor smarts," Will chuckled, and as he spoke his friends could see his freckles slightly glow, like they did years ago. There was something special about the small daughter of Pluto that always cheered him up. "If I didn't have the accuracy of an Apollo kid, I'd've been knocked silly by Keegan!" The four of them laughed at the outburst, and Nico gave a chuckle at the slight Texan accent that shown through his words, usually hidden from his prolonged time in New York.

A large familiar sound rang in their ears, and Nico's mouth twitched, "You guys ready for some lunch? We could stay here, but I don't have any more classes to teach so we could go out to eat."

Clarisse shrugged, "No can do for me. Gotta whip my sibs' into shape before Capture the Flag tonight, or else the Athena kids will beat us again, and I'm _not_ going to have Malcolm gloat over the campfire!" The others nodded and smiled at the girl, understanding her determination completely.

Hazel clasped her hands together and gave another bright smile, "Frank and I should be able to come! Just let me check in with Chiron before we do so he knows we're leaving."

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

McDonald's was easily becoming one of Will's least favorite restaurants, and it took fifteen minutes of arguing before he was finally able to convince Nico to walk away from the golden arches of fried fatty foods. It didn't help that Hazel was on Nico's side (seriously, was this a children of the god of the underworld thing?), but at least Frank was on his side (granted, it was only because the big guy felt sorry for Will having to deal with the other two, but Will would take any help offered at that point). They had _finally_ settled for a pizza joint not far away from their apartment, just in case something happened, as it inevitably would with how their luck always turned out to be.

They were in the middle of sharing the largest and cheesiest pizza available when they decided to begin discussing the events of a few nights ago, and Will immediately stiffened at the topic. Nico kept a hand on Will's leg to calm him down as they spoke in quiet tones, not letting the chance of anyone around them to hear. Nico leaned forward after shoving a bite in his mouth, "Do you know any monsters that can control golden light?"

Hazel shook her head, "There's not a one that I can think of. Are you sure it was _light_ and not _fire_ , because there are more beings able to control fire than light." Nico shook his head, and Will took a sip of Sprite before speaking a bit softer than usual.

"No, it was definitely golden light."

"The only name at the top of my head is Apollo," Frank mused, tapping a finger on the wooden table. The adult in front of Will always made him do a double take whenever he spoke; Frank looked like a giant, chinese bear person, but his voice was always quiet and polite towards others. It was yet another comforting thing that Will enjoyed, and he was pretty sure that Nico knew that, "But Apollo wouldn't really want to work with any monsters. He'd probably say something about their disgustingness being contagious."

Will rolled his eyes, "That sounds like Dad all right." The table burst into low chuckles at the sarcastic statement before a lady from a couple booths away glared at them into silence. Will couldn't help but think back on that night in the calm silence, and he desperately wanted to be able to know more about what was going on that effected him so terribly. His memory of the night was skewed, and he didn't wish to tell Nico that a part of him yearned to go back and to listen to the sermons again. He caught himself thinking about it more and more, and there was just something about the speech that he felt that he could relate to.

But Will was usually a stubborn person who wanted the facts of something before committing to it. Why was this suddenly different? Something about this made him throw away one of his personality traits as he focused solely on the speaker's voice, and even thinking back on it, he couldn't remember what the tone of the voice even _sounded_ like. A part of him wanted to say it sounded like his mom, while the other was leaning toward the dark tones of Nico's voice.

The son of Apollo shook his head before taking another bite of his pizza, getting rid of the strange realizations with some of his favorite food. Frank, Hazel, and Nico soon began a rousing discussion about the two Camps that soon diverged into each other's living situations. Will chimed in here and there, but he enjoyed just being able to sit and talk with some old friends. Only the Fates knew when they'd see each other again.

Lunch passed by fairly quickly after that, full of playful banter and witty jabs between the two siblings at the table, and Will and Nico began the short tread home. Nothing about the walk was really extraordinary, but Will always enjoyed being able to hold his boyfriend's hand as they walked in peaceful silence together back to their home.

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

"Don't you _hate_ being hunted? You have young, others you care for, possessions you treasure, and yet we are killed off and slaughtered like little pests. You see how they treat our _favored_ brethren!" The voice boomed out into the crowd, a golden light pulsating behind a figure in a long white cloak, hiding their features from view. The monsters, demigods, and mortals alike all cheered and shivered with anticipation, "They treat a Cyclops as a brother, a hellhound as a pet, harpies as helpers, yet what of us? What of the countless others that they've destroyed?"

A hush fell over the crowd as they took in the new information passed to them. Angry hushed whispers rippled through the gathering, formulating like angry bees ready to defend its' nest, "I see you all as you are. Broken, defenseless, and alone. I yearn for your retribution, I crave your justice, I seek your vengeance! Though I see these things, I am not your god, but I will be your Great Prophet, the stepping stone for the Great One to bridge the gap between monsters and man!"

Cheers once again broke out, pleased with the answer. Hooves stomped, wings flapped, hands clapped along with the pulsating light, the powerful voice. The wide alleyway they were in had wet and smelly bricks, but it didn't seem to deter anyone in the congregation. Nico Di Angelo kept his hood up as he weaved his way through the crowd, trying to desperately get that closer view he failed to accomplish the other night, "Can't you see it? No gods, no government, just man and beast living peacefully side by side. Is this not what the universe intended all along?"

Nico shook his head at the comment, thinking of the chaos it would bring, and then shivered at looking over and seeing a smaller than usual Hydra staring above him. The demigod couldn't be happier that they were all distracted from his presence, seeing as the other mortals and demigods in the area must've been blocking his scent, "I am not your god, nor will I ever be. But I am your Prophet, and I will show you to the light of equality. I will shine this golden ray of truth on the gods, and we will watch them wither away as their lies come to the surface!" A roar of approval at this statement, and the Prophet continued, "Please, I beg of you all, do not show your faces to others, tell no one of our ways, for they will not understand the perfection of our peace until it comes to them. Be cautious and safe, my monsters, and hide in the shadows until our light finds you. Mortals and half-mortals, hide the Good News in your heart until it is time to divulge in our secrets. For by doing so, you _all_ are your own prophets, paving the way for everyone's freedom!"

A sharp white light, cutting through the soft gold, pierced every being's eyes in the area, causing shrieks to ring out in the alley. Nico swore under his breath as he heard a song unfamiliar to him blare out from the alley's entrance, and he began to have a fairly good idea who was crashing the gathering. Monsters left and right were grabbing mortals and demigods alike before running away, flying, teleporting, whatever they could do to leave. Nico had to admire the very well-structured escape plan, but soon realized that _he_ didn't have an escape route yet. He swore once more, a bit louder this time, before trying to desperately find any shadow to jump into.

The only problem was that the cursed white spotlight seemed to make all shadows fade away.

Nico ditched the plan of escaping in favor for chasing after the 'Great Prophet', and turned to see him still up on his pedestal, talking hurriedly with a human and what appeared to be a harpy. He pushed through the creatures around him, all shoving against him, as he clawed his way closer to the cloaked figure, who had grabbed the shoulders of his partners. The son of Hades gave out a strangled cry of anger as he realized that they, too, had means of leaving.

The great wings of the harpy spread out widely, showing off the grey and golden feathers that graced the monster. The harpy wrapped their arms around the Prophet and other human, and Nico surged forward in one last attempt to grab onto the cloak.

Time seemed to slow down as Nico's arms brushed the smooth feathers of the screeching harpy, and his fingertips merely caressed the cloak of the Prophet. The harpy bolted upwards as the Prophet called down to the creatures, "Stay safe, my children! I shall embrace you all as my brothers and sisters in due time!"

The last thing Nico saw f the Prophet was a glimmering smile before the harpy flew out of his sight.

Nico stood alone in the alleyway, yet another curse ready to spill from his mouth. He made sure his hoodie was still covering his facial features as he turned around slowly, ready to 'face the music' that was behind him. He glanced his eyes upward to send a quick prayer to the gods, thanking them that he wasn't wearing his normal aviator jacket for once, as it most likely would have given him away to the one man that knew him.

Tony Stark cut off the music, but the light persisted, erasing Nico's chances of running to the nearest shadow. Even though the alley was full to the brim, it was empty and quiet now, with only Nico standing in the center. The son of Hades didn't look up at the adults in front of him, opting to stare at his boots as the familiar snarky voice of Mr. Stark filled bounced around the bricks, "So, you gonna tell us what was going on here, or are we going to have to bring you in for questioning?"

Nico just kept his hands slightly raised up to show he was weaponless (far from it, but people generally like a bit of security). The only thought running through his head that if he was going to get caught, Will would be pissed as all hell with him. The son of Apollo didn't even want Nico leaving the apartment, so if Nico proved Will's 'prophetic ways' right, he'd be in deep trouble with his boyfriend. Nico shrugged at the voice in front of him, hoping it'd prompt Tony to shut the light off.

Tony didn't shut the light off, "You see, kid," Nico cringed as he was called kid. He was nineteen! Not a child anymore! "I can't just let the only person who didn't disappear in thin air go. How about you tell me where all your little churchgoer friends went, and we'll go easy on you."

We? Nico looked up with his eyes, not wishing to show his face in the bright light quite yet. In the entrance of the alleyway stood Iron Man in his signature red and gold armor, a man with an arrow notched right at him (Will would go crazy tonight when Nico tells him he saw Hawkeye), and… _oh gods is that Captain America?_

Nico remembered seeing glimpses of the man when he was a child! He may have lived in Italy, but Captain America was a well-known figure everywhere around the world in WW2. But how was he here and _alive?_ The familiar shield made Nico stare at the star in the center, making him think back to the days when he and Bianca would talk for hours about America's newest superhero. He tried to shove the memory down, but an image of Bianca dressing Nico up as ' _Captain Italy_ ' persisted in his mind, making him blush as the memory of her stuffing him in tights went.

The man himself spoke next, "Look, we don't want to hurt you, we just want to know what was going on here." Nico recognized the man slipping out of his defensive stance, trying to ease the younger adult, "If you'd come with us, we could help you get out of whatever this is."

Another light curse, the last one for the night, slipped from Nico's mouth, this time in Greek. He saw the confusion on the men's faces, but ignored it as his eyes settled on the shadow that the light was creating from Steve Roger's form. It was right in front of the man, the light maneuvering around his broad shoulders and creating one of the only dark spots in the alley. This was going to be a stupid idea.

Surging forward, he didn't give the three heroes enough time to let out their _own_ curses before he was almost face to face with Captain America. A punch was headed his way, and he quickly ducked his head to missing the oncoming freight train that was Steve Roger's punch. Nico wondered if it was true that he had stopped a tank with a single punch, and cursed his ADHD for thinking so when an arrow was being shot at him. He _really_ didn't want to get hit, and he could only thank his own smarts for drinking a five-hour energy drink around three hours ago. That along with some nectar was giving him a real boost that he desperately needed, and he wouldn't be doing too well in this fight without that helping him.

He yelped as he narrowly dodged the arrow shot by Hawkeye, and looked over to see the sparks coming off it as it hit the fire escape on the side of a building. _Great, so he's trying to taze me. Okay_.

A beam of light shot near his feet, and another punch was dodged (admittedly, the hit _did_ clip Nico's ear, making him rub it unappreciatively). Nico slid downward and shoved forward at the same time, doing a baseball slide straight toward Steve's feet where the shadow emerged.

He saw it quiver anxiously, almost reaching out to meet him halfway when Steve moved to the left, thinking Nico was trying to poorly kick him, and dodged the advance. Nico _would've_ cursed again, but he rolled to his left as well, dodging another arrow in the process. _Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods, I'm in trouble._

 _Just a little closer, and…_ Nico touched the shadow, and the tug in his gut became more prominent as the shadow encased his body, traveling up his legs and eventually covered his head. The last thing he saw was the feet of his childhood hero.

He shadow-traveled to his dark apartment, and he lay on the floor a moment to catch his breath. He hadn't fought like that in a while, and he fought down his ragged breath and jumpy heart rate to calm himself down. Two things were running through his mind at this point, one of them being ' _Why the hell were the Avengers there'_ and ' _What the fuck did I just witness'_. Considering to get himself a cup of coffee, but opting out because it was literally 2:57 in the morning, he made his way to the bedroom in the back.

As he walked through the slightly cracked door, he could see the lump under the covers that couldn't be anything but his boyfriend. His body was exhausted, as was his mind, so the warm bed was greatly appreciated. Before he fell over from being tired, however, he watched carefully for the gentle rise and fall of the body in the bed, a small smile on his face as he realized that Will stole all of the blankets _again_. He sighed, realizing that trying to steal them back would be fruitless, and immediately collapsed on his boyfriend, who grunted in surprise and relief. Will sat up groggily in bed, his t-shirt hanging off his thin shoulders. The son of Apollo rolled over, giving Nico more room to lay down as he yawned, "Y-You should change into pajamas. You'll feel better." Nico kicked off his shoes, but other than that, he didn't budge.

"I want to cuddle my boyfriend." Nico said stubbornly, wrapping his arms around Will's waist and sighed happily as Will hummed in giving up trying to get him to change. They lay in bed, not doing anything a moment, before WIll sat up.

He leaned over Nico, and Nico watched appreciatively as his golden hair flew every which direction, his tan skin seemed to glow happily, and his blue eyes, although halfway closed with sleep, were bright and joyful, "So, Neeks," He leaned down and gave the son of Hades a peck on the cheek, "Anything happen tonight?"

"Blahh," Nico scowled, and grumbled in monotone, "I don't wanna talk about it righ' now. I want kisses and sleep."

Will chuckled, "Fine, but we're talking about this in the morning." Nico grunted, accepting the proposition that he set. They could talk about it when Nico wasn't tired from fighting and shadow-traveling as they drank coffee together. Will laid his head down on Nico's shoulder and reached a hand up to tangle his fingers in Nico's thick and dark hair.

Nico leaned down and kissed him lovingly on the mouth, albeit a bit sloppily as both were sleepy, but neither minded in the slightest. Lazy and warm kisses were always good kisses. Nico smiled into the kiss before leaning back a moment, "I love you, Will."

A wide and crooked smile made its way to Will's face, and Nico grinned as he could see his boyfriend's beautiful and happy light pooled in spots on his face, and peeked out from the roots of his hair, living proof that Will was very happy in this moment. Nico loved being able to not only see the beautiful smile and crinkled corners of his eyes, but he loved the light that his boyfriend unintentionally showed, "I love you too, Nico."

They fell asleep laying like that, happy and content with one another and offering lazy kisses every so often.

 **PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ**

 **I got to admit, I love hearing all of your guys' theories for what's going to happen! All of the positivity that I'm getting from everyone that leaves me reviews is so nice ;w;**

 **So I'm going to update you on stuff I suppose. I'm still pretty ill, but I finally went to the doctor and now I'm taking medication for it, so it should clear up in a couple of weeks. I'm now in only 1 orchestra, which is so much better than the original 3, and that takes some stress. right now I'm just making preparations for graduating, nothing too extraneous so I can deal with that.**

 **Thank you all for your kindness toward me and your love for this story! I love being able to read your reviews, and you guys never cease to make me smile!**

 **Love, Hate**


	7. Chapter 7

**HAHAHAHA EARLY UPDATE**

 **okokok so this chapter is dedicated to dauntlessofthesea, who sent me a really amazing review and thank you so much for it. It's also dedicated to Matt, who compared Prophet to Trump and to that one guest who sent me only 1 exclamation mark. No context. Just the !. You know who you are.**

 **Answered questions at the end!**

 **CHAPTER 7**

Prophet was having a _great_ day!

Of course, the minor inconvenience of having to reschedule another meeting with his disciples was going to be tedious, however it was well worth it. A smile got caught on his face as he hummed a nameless tune, and his golden eyes closed contently as he flew in the air with his most trusted devotees.

He didn't quite remember the harpy's name, as there were many at his congregations, so one could not expect him to know all his pupils, but the demigod with him had dedicated her life to their cause. She was lovely, a child of Aphrodite he had first thought. But her dark hair and swirling green eyes gave away her heritage; a beloved child of Hecate.

She did have her downfalls occasionally, and he could not find it in his heart to fault her for such troublesome minor situations. He was Prophet, after all, and loved all of his followers immensely, unlike those wretched gods who treat their precious children as if they were last week's newspaper. His tune came out a bit harshly at this, and his disciple looked at him strangely.

"Prophet?" She called over the harsh winds of the harpy's wings, "Are you alright?"

The man in question nodded, keeping quiet a moment longer to preserve the silence they shared together. He looked down at the city lights and spoke quietly, "Do not trouble yourself with my worries, dearest Alba. Focus instead on the prayer for your nights to be short and your days bountiful."

A small grin lit up her face, and her green eyes sparkled up at him. A short nod, and she was curled up in a ball, praying for happiness. Prophet smiled at her devotion, pleased that Alba was dutiful in these ways, before going back to his musings.

That man that was there… He was tall and dark, his eyes as mad as the vexed seas. Prophet sighed as he remembered the furious face, curious about how the stranger would ever be so angry with him, the Great Prophet. Was he doing something wrong with his teachings? Was the follower that exasperated with his sermons that he would grab his cloak and shove him into the sinful ground? No, no, Prophet could not be doing something wrong; he was simply relaying messages given to him from his god.

He must have been angry with himself, yes! Prophet preened at the fact that a follower was so upset that they'd grab him at whatever cost. An upset follower meant more time to share his sermons, more opportunities to help the young man see the light he had strayed from. Those dark eyes at the brink of madness needed saving, Prophet realized, and it was his duty to save every creature under the sun!

A child of the gods, perhaps a mortal, by Tartarus he could've even been a monster. It mattered not, seeing as Prophet did not entirely care of the species of his disciples. He vaguely wondered if the man enjoyed chess; none of the monsters knew the many rules, and not many mortals or demigods really cared about the strategic game. Maybe he could find a time to privately speak with the man? Oh, but however would he find him specifically; if he was a new member, he would not know of their communicative ways! Relying on chance was so unreliable and… too much like the stone-age.

He supposed he could see if a monster with a good sense of tracking could help him in finding the mystery follower. Prophet couldn't help but wonder if he was following the gods, and he yearned jealously at the man, wanting and desiring him to follow the true light.

The harpy beat her wings harshly as they neared a roof, and the wind whipped around Prophet and Alba in such a way that Prophet needed help in order to keep his flowing cloak from flying off of him. The landing wasn't harsh, which pleased both passengers, and both set their feet down lightly on the hard roof. They bowed to the harpy, who gave her respects in return. The harpy flew off, and they were left in silence.

Prophet glanced over at Alba, who was offering a prayer of thanks for their safe travels, and his heart melted a bit at the sight. Her whispers were so soft that he couldn't hear her voice speaking anymore. He wondered...

"Dear Alba," Said demigod lifted her head, carefully listening to the words of Prophet. Prophet said quickly, "What is it that you pray about?"

Alba blushed slightly, embarrassed, in the night, unbeknownst to Prophet, and she ducked her head shyly as she spoke, "I pray about everything, my Prophet."

 _My_ Prophet, she said. Prophet smiled at the words, pleased with the title given to him, but tried not to let his joy show _too_ much, "You pray about everything?"

"Yes!" She said excitedly, almost like a child with a new toy, "I pray for the birds to fly and the trees to grow and the light to shine. I pray for the safety of your disciples and the safety of others not knowing the light. And I pray dutifully for your speeches and sermons of the Good News to reach the darkest corners of the Earth!"

"You truly are a devout believer," Prophet grinned, and reached a hand over to brush her hair from her shoulder.

She frowned at the words, "No, my Prophet. I do my best, but you were the one to lead me here, and for that, I thank you greatly for showing me the light."

Truly, a kiss on the forehead did not count as favoritism, yes? Prophet let his lips touch her face briefly before turning away, not looking at her, for surely she would question the strange behavior from her Prophet, "I am glad for your fellowship as well, Miss Alba." He walked away from her, heading for the fire escape perched precariously on the edge of the rooftop. He turned around and smiled, his golden eyes shining like twinkling Christmas lights in the darkness, "Come, my Alba, as we must prepare for the morrow. For sunrise comes a new day, and I wish to spend it in prayer."

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

"So, to recap, you almost got beat up by my boss's boyfriend and his superpowered friends by doing something I told you _not to do_."

Nico winced and took a sip of his coffee, not wanting to look at his boyfriend. Will was undoubtedly pissed at him for going out the night before, and by the way Will was looking at his hurt ear, Nico knew he would hold this over his head for a while. The son of Hades sighed loudly, "Yeah, that's what happened, but I didn't know they were just going to show up! What the Hades were doing out scouting New York? Isn't that Spiderman's job?"

Will raised an unamused eyebrow at the man, "Yes it is his job, but Tony's really angry at whoever shot Peps." He grabbed the pot of freshly made coffee and poured a good portion of it into his travel mug, "I wouldn't be surprised if he and some of the Avengers decided to try and get rid of some of the crime in the area."

Nico grabbed Will's jacket for him and helped him put it on as he fumbled with putting some creamer in his coffee. A frustrated look was on his face, almost pout-like, as he mumbled, "Well I didn't know…"

Will kissed him on his nose, "I know you didn't. Just be more careful. Are you sure they didn't see you? I don't want to have to explain to Mr. Stark why my boyfriend jumped into Captain America's shadow."

"Oh ye of little faith," Nico rolled his eyes at the son of Apollo, "I had my hood up the entire time. They couldn't have seen me. Now _you_ need to get to work. Are you going to Pepper's office or the tower?"

Will took a swig out of the mug before zipping up his jacket, "I'm going to the tower today; hey, maybe I'll see Captain America and I can yell at him for hurting your ear."

"You wouldn't _dare_."

"Try me."

Nico gave a wide grin and laughed. Will was always humorous in the morning, and it seemed as if he had very little filter. Will stood by the door, adjusting his jacket, when Nico gave him a light kiss on his forehead, "If you see Hawkeye, tell him thanks for shooting at me last night."

Will's eyes widened as Nico began leading him out of the door, "Wait, you never said anything about Hawkeye being there!" He fumbled over his words in awe, demanding Nico tell him everything, when Nico shut him up with a kiss on the lips.

"I'll have dinner ready at seven when you get back. Try not to be late, sunshine. I love you."

Will stood flabbergasted as the door was shut in his face, wanting to either kiss his boyfriend for actually seeing his idol or yell at him for not telling him earlier, but he settled for mumbling, "I love you too, deathboy." A laugh echoed behind him, and the son of Apollo turned around in the small hallway to see their neighbor, an elderly woman, chuckling to herself while opening her door.

She waved him off, "Oh, don't mind me Doctor Solace. I just find it very adorable how you two young people bicker so often."

His blush traveled from his face to his ears, and Will could feel his cheeks burn, "Um, we don't fight _that_ often… Right?"

"You fight more than me and my husband do, and we're divorced!" She gave out a crow of laughter, "I've never seen a couple lovingly fight like you two. I'm sure you've had your fair share of little spats."

Will had to agree. Of course play fighting was so often that the banter they shared flowed out easier than he'd like to admit, but the actual fights that they've had were few and far in between, and he was grateful for that. But was it unusual that he and Nico 'fought' often? They were always just messing around. He spoke softly, "Ms. Lierman, couples do bicker often, don't they?"

"Of course they do, Solace, don't get your boxers in a twist." She leaned over and pinched one of his blushing freckled cheeks, "You just do it a bit more often. Now my son, on the other hand? He's never fought with _his_ significant other before. They're always so happy." A far away look came into her eyes, and Will knew he was going to be there a couple more minutes, prompting him to be late for work. It was rude to ignore your neighbor!

"Oh? And How do they act?"

She hummed a bit, thinking back, "Well, they were friends when they were _very_ young. And I'm talking when my little guy was eight. Last I heard of them, they were still happily together in New York somewhere." Mrs. Lierman waved her hand in the air, "Not sure where they're at. Little Amos was never a talkative child, at least not with me. But last time I received a letter, it mentioned he had just gotten an apartment and that he'd visit sometime soon. Isn't that wonderful?"

"That's very nice, Mrs. Lierman!" Will smiled, not really concerned with the time anymore. He turned the coffee mug in his hands, "Does that mean we should bring over a casserole soon for a coming home party?" She gave him a light smack on his waist, making him laugh at her.

She scowled up at him, "Who said I'd let _you two_ contaminate my son?" Will laughed, and she gave a small chuckle, "I let a friend come over one time, and now she's obsessed with that strange game Nico brought over. Mystical whatever or something."

"Mythomagic." Will corrected.

"Whatever," Mrs. Lierman sighed, "If you're on your best behavior, maybe I'll let you step foot in my apartment. In the meantime, don't _you_ have somewhere to be?"

Will's eyes widened as he got out his phone and checked the time. He was going to be late if he didn't run! He gripped his travel mug tightly before running to the stairs, "I'll talk to you after work, Mrs. L! I gotta run!"

He heard her barely contained laughter as he tripped over his own feet at the last two steps before stumbling back up and continuing his run to the nearest taxi cab.

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

Will gently touched Pepper's shoulder, mindful of the scars there, and guided it back in small increments. Said woman grunted at the motion and Will offered her a small smile, "You're doing great. Have you been getting Tony to help you do some of these?"

Pepper laid her head down on the table, stiff as a board as Will slowly rolled her shoulder backwards, "Sometimes. Bruce helps more often, though - sorry, Dr. _Banner_ helps."

"Hm, that's nice of them." Will muttered as he watched the way her muscles contracted. Her deltoid was nearly healed, although the scar was done a bit too sloppily for Will's liking. The light orchestral music playing the gym's speakers was great to fill in the awkward lull in conversation as WIll examined the arm more thoroughly.

Pepper twisted her neck around as best she could to look at him as Will rolled his eyes, "So, doc, what's the verdict?"

Will gave a soft chuckle before saying, "Well before I say anything, would it be alright for me to touch the area around the scar? It's raising up quite a bit and it's on a high stress area, which could limit where we go next with the physical therapy."

The CEO nodded as she stilled herself on the bench. Will ran his fingers lightly over the scar as to not irritate it before lightly skimming the area around it. A frown formed on his face as he realized that the scar tissue that was forming was raised and a bright red. He wrinkled his nose at the sight of the pink skin and spoke softly, "Pep, do you feel any pain when I press right… here?" He pressed lightly to the side of the scar, which shouldn't have hurt too terribly due to the pain medication she was on.

Yet, she winced anyway, and sucked in a quick breath before she spoke quickly, "Yeah, yeah it hurts quite a bit."

Great. Just what Will needed; another complication. He vaguely thought back to his mother tracing a surgery scar she had and explaining why the skin was raised and why she needed more surgery to fix it, and it made Will cringe remembering the pain she was in due to the scar on her knee. If Pepper's scar was beginning to become hypertrophic, then it would need immediate treatment to lessen the pain, "Has your scar been itching?"

"A little, but I usually ignore it." Pepper mused. A concerned lilt came to her voice, "Is there something wrong?"

Well, Nico did say that she was high up on the security aspect of the world, meaning no magic or hymns. Time to do this the mortal way, "I'm only concerned that the scar might become hypertrophic. It's no big deal, but it can cause pain and lack of mobility in the shoulder. If I'm right and we caught this early, then there's many treatment options, but I'm hoping that I'm wrong."

Pepper sat up, ignoring the hand Will held out to her, and rubbed the area around her shoulder. Her eyebrows were furrowed in deep concentration, "What is it? What should we do?"

Will rubbed his arm, "Well, hypertrophic scarring is just a build up collagen under the scar, but it contains and pushes on your blood vessels and nerves in the area." He pushed lightly on the area where her shoulder met her neck, and he tried not to flinch as she winced once again. He spoke in calm tones, "It's nothing that can really be prevented, but there's treatment to get rid of it and of the pain. My mom had the same issue with a scar on her knee from climbing a tree with me."

"So what should we do?"

"For now, I'll go see if Dr. Banner or Mr. Stark have some silicon strips in those labs of theirs," Will said, "I'd rather not have someone do surgery, laser, or steroid treatment. We might have to change our physical therapy routine as well…" He trailed off, mumbling to himself as he figured out a new regimen in his head.

Pepper's mind spun; she was just shot almost a month ago, and complications are coming up _now_? She could only thank her lucky stars that she had a doctor who knew what he was doing, and even though he was young, he seemed to be very experienced. Relief washed over her as she realized that he knew other treatments besides surgery. He flitted out of the room quickly, but doubled back just as fast as he left.

"Well that was quick," She said jokingly.

He laughed and pulled out a familiar sheet of paper from his pocket, "I forgot to congratulate you on a good day!" He picked off a red smiley face from the sheet before putting it gently on her workout tank top, smiling widely. Pepper rolled her eyes at the doctor, who always seemed to have many types of stickers on his person, but the happiness he exuded was enough to put a smile on her face as well.

Will left then, stuffing the stickers back in his pocket as he walked from the gym to the nearest elevator. Although a bit awkward (as it always seemed to be for him), he stepped on it and looked up into the camera stationed there and cleared his throat, "Um, Friday? You there?"

"I always am, Doctor Solace." Came the automated voice. A sigh fell from his mouth and he fidgeted with the end of his t-shirt.

He looked at his feet, "Can you give me directions to the nearest lab? I need some silicon strips. You can alert Banner and Stark about me coming if needed."

"Already on it, Doctor Solace." A button that wasn't pushed by him lit up, and the elevator played soft music as it carried him upward. The high-tech building always took him off-guard; maybe it was a demigod thing or a Will Solace not used to technology thing, but the AI always freaked him out a bit. "When you get off, take the hallway in front of you until you see the glass windows of the lab, and that is the next door you will take."

He nodded and saluted the camera, thanking her for helping, before he got off the elevator and followed her instructions. The hallway was easy to find, but it took quite a long while before he found the glass windows of the lab, and eventually the door came into sight. He walked in to see Banner and Stark leaning over a map with many markings on it. Will cleared his throat, prompting the two to look up, before waving his hand and speaking, "Hello, Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark! I was wondering if you guys had any silicon strips on hand?"

Banner nodded while Tony spoke, "Yeah, there's some back here. C'mon Willy, I'll show you." Will winced at the unfortunate nickname, much to Tony's pleasure and Banner looked at him sympathetically.

"What do you need the strips for?" Banner asked.

Will winced, unsure as to how the billionaire in the room would take the new information, but told them anyway, "Pepper's scarring is becoming hypertrophic. I'd rather her not have to undergo surgery again to fix the issue, and silicon seems to work when ridding scars of excess collagen."

Tony narrowed his eyes a bit, not wanting to take it out on Will, but he was frustrated with the news, "And how long until it's _not_ a hypertrophic scar anymore?"

The doctor shuffled his feet, grabbing the box of strips from Banner as he stuttered out, "It, uh, differs for everyone, actually. My mom had hers for a couple years while a friend at camp had his fixed after a couple of months. It just depends on her physiology and how her body reacts to the silicon." Banner nodded with the explanation, and was a bit surprised about how a 'field medic' knew something about long-term scarring. Usually field or combat medics were taught how to treat injuries that happened then and there; he must've been a smart kid to dedicate himself like this.

"You're very intelligent for such a young field doctor, Will." Banner smiled at him, and saw how Will's blush traveled across his face and to his ears. He stuttered out something like 'Not as good as my father', and Bruce scoffed, "I'm serious, Will. You've got some serious talent, and you shouldn't compare yourself to someone else. It's not psychologically healthy, you should know that."

The blush went away as the words were said to him. Comparing himself to Apollo was the only thing he could use to rate himself, and lately he was doing poorly. His eyes' gaze went to his shoes as he thought about his father, the god that he looked up to the most. Apollo, although he had his downfalls with the excessive haikus and constant 'cool' person, was the greatest healer known to mankind. Maybe he should go easier on himself, but being related to a _god_ kind of gives a kid a bit of an inferiority complex.

He looked up and offered up a weak smile, "Yeah, you're right. Well, I, um, got to take these to Pepper. I'll talk to you guys later." Will hurried off, and Bruce crossed his arms when he left. Tony looked over at him, a bit confused at the reaction.

"What's got you all worked up about this?"

Banner sighed and rubbed his face, mindful of the reading glasses perched there, "Tony, how do _you_ feel when you compare yourself to your dad? You feel bad right? Like he'll always be better than you no matter what?"

Tony bristled, "I'd rather not think of my father."

"What do you think Will is going through?" Banner questioned, "'Not as good as my father'. God, he sounded so heartbroken, Tony. You know how much your anxiety stemmed from your father, and now Will's going through practically the same thing!" He shook his head before returning his gaze to the map and sighing again, "Let's just try and pinpoint where that sermon guy you were talking about is going to pop up next."

Tony knew he should've paid more attention to the small meeting between the two of them about the crazy church guy, but he couldn't help but think about how similar Will and he were. Both of them may have had a grudge against their father or may look up to them, but it was so drastically twisted to the image that the son will never be better than their father. He took one last glance at the bright gold of Will's hair from behind the lab's glass as he walked away, leaving him to force himself to think further on last night's strange congregation.

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

Will got back to the gym in record time, especially since he knew where it was located (Nico, on the other hand, gets lost going to the bathroom). He expected Pepper to be sitting on the bench, waiting for him, or maybe up and getting a drink of water and stretching out any sore muscles. What Will _didn't_ expect was another woman in the room speaking with her. He stopped where he stood with his head tilted to the side, the strips and bandages lying in his arms and spilling from his hands.

The redhead speaking with her was wearing a button down blouse and tight pants, not suitable for working out, so she must have been seeking out Pepper instead of just bumping into her. Her hair was brighter than most girls', but he realized it was near the same shade as Rachel's, the resident oracle and art teacher at camp. No freckles though, just smooth porcelain skin and a pouting mouth that spoke in low tones at Pepper, who was smiling at her. So they were friends, he supposed. But the way she held herself, a natural defensive stance that was similar to a blonde married to a certain seaweed brain, made him question her true intentions. Now that he looked closer, he saw a few scars littered on her hands, not unlike the few knife cuts on his own hands (scalpels were hard to use as weapons!). Did she know how to use a knife? Was she a bodyguard? A spy?

He cursed himself for thinking so much about it. The woman was most likely a friend of Pepper's. But Will couldn't help himself for wanting Pepper's safety; she was his patient! Anyone that hurt a recovering patient was going to get mauled by him. He swallowed down a lump in his throat before walking calmly forward, well, as calmly as he could with his hands trying to reach for the knife in his boot. The woman looked over, but Will had a feeling she already knew he was there. A monster, maybe?

Pepper just smiled at him, oblivious to his previous musings, "Will! I'd like you to meet an acquaintance of mine and Tony's. This is Natasha." She lifted her good arm and gestured to the redhead, who was helping Pepper put on her sticker-decorated sling.

Will glanced at Pepper, silently asking if she was okay, but Pepper wasn't a mind reader, so he wasn't sure why he bothered. He gave out a bright smile anyway, keeping his gaze steady with the woman, "I'd shake your hand, miss, but mine are a bit full at the moment!"

Natasha smiled back, and met his stare with one of her own. Will watched the way her irises moved; if she was a monster, she's break eye contact or she's attack him, seeing as prolonged eye contact was a form of aggression and a challenge of dominance. Maybe she was a demigod then? Or maybe he was overreacting, he reminded himself. The woman's voice was light and forceful, "Do you need help with any of that?"

He shook his head, "I know it may be a bit of trouble, but can you help Pepsi take off that sling of hers? I need to re-bandage the scar."

Natasha mouthed the word 'pepsi' under her breath as Pepper raised an eyebrow at him, not perturbed by the nickname he had given her weeks ago, "But I just finished wrapping it! Why do you need to unwrap it; I thought I did a good job." Will chuckled briefly.

"Sorry, but I need to put on the silicon strips to lessen the swelling," He set down the bandages, "I should have told you not to move too much." Pepper said it was alright, and while Will set up his first aid kit he had to admit and appreciate that Natasha helped her out of the sling quickly and and carefully.

He soon busied himself with cutting an appropriate amount of bandaging and silicon to fit her shoulder while Pepper tossed the sling back onto the bench, and he grabbed the silicon before turning back around. Natasha looked at it in confusion, "That isn't going to make her go all Dr. Banner on us, is it?"

"Dr. Banner…?" Will took a moment to decipher what she meant before he realized his radiation problem. His, uh, _big_ radiation problem. He waved his free hand to calm the protective woman, "No, the silicon won't do anything that extensive."

As he applied the strip gently onto Pepper's shoulder, he wagged a finger at her, "Now, because I'm putting this on you and because of this new hypertrophic scarring situation, we're going to need more rules for you."

Pepper groaned while Natasha tilted her head, "How many rules were there before the strip?"

" _Too many_ ," Pepper crowed out, "No opening doors with your injured arm, no picking up weights larger than five pounds, diet must be followed perfectly, no-"

"Wait, why the diet?"

Will puffed out his cheek as he smoothed the strip over the scar and applied some gel to it, "I'm not going to have my patient ruin her health dietarily while she tried to recover with limited exercise." They took the information in and he applied the bandage in silence a moment before sighing, "And yes, new rules. You can leave the strip on for however long you like without lasting effects, but you'll need to air it out once in awhile just to let the scar breathe, you know?"

"Sounds easy enough. And with you and Nat hanging around, you guys can help out as well," Will wanted to grimace at the added 'and Nat', but shoved the feeling aside. Why did he feel bad vibes from the woman? "Anything else, William Shakespeare?"

Natasha realized the strange name-calling must've just been a friendly thing as Will snorted at the nickname before sobering, "You need to know that this isn't a cure for the scar, Pepperoni. It-"

"I know it won't get rid of the scar, Solace, that's not how scars work."

He gave out a frustrated sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand and picked up the sling with the other, "Not what I mean, Potts." He motioned for Natasha to help him, and luckily she got the hint and gently grabbed Pepper's elbow to hold her study as he wrapped the cloth around her opposite shoulder. "The scar will hopefully heal on its own and the silicon helps the swelling and pain lessen. What I mean by cure for the scar is that the scar will always be there, but while it's hypertrophic? You're going to be in a bit of pain for a while."

Her face paled slightly and Natasha clipped on the last part of the sling, "Well, that doesn't sound like a lot of fun." Will couldn't help but chuckle at the deadpan expression that stayed on the stranger's face.

"No, I suppose it doesn't." He smiled before taking out his phone and looking at the time, "And we finished right on schedule for you to get dressed for lunch. You never told me what you wanted me to pick up, by the way."

Pepper stretched out her good arm before arching her back, making it pop, "I was thinking of taking a day off of work and ordering some pizza." Natasha seemed to perk up a little bit at the word 'pizza', which didn't go unnoticed by Pepper, "Yes, Nat, you can join us."

A grin flittered over her face, but it seemed to Will to look more like a predatory smirk. He only hoped that she was some sort of odd human. He hated killing monsters in front of confused friends.

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

Will sat curled up on the couch, his head fighting to lean itself over onto the armrest next to him, and Pepper watched him struggle to stay awake with a smile on her face.

Natasha had left not too long ago, and Pepper couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief. It wasn't that she disliked the assassin, it just seemed as if Will was more tense and uncomfortable around her. As soon as the elder woman had eaten a few slices, she was out of the tower, or at least bugging Tony and Bruce. That left her with two boxes of pizza, a movie she was only halfway interested in, and a _very_ tired doctor.

She vaguely wondered if the boy had gotten any sleep the night before, but knew it wouldn't really be right to pry. Besides, with two young adults living together, she might not _want_ to know what had kept him up last night. A soft whistle escaped her friend's mouth, and she realized he had finally given up and fell asleep on the edge of the couch, his neck at a strange angle.

A small tsk rose in the pack of her throat, but she shoved it down in favor of getting of the chair she was seated in and grabbing a blanket. The open, slack mouth of Will and the peacefulness on his sleeping face made all of his stressful wrinkles melt away. She used her good arm and whipped the blanket out in one motion, watching it collapse slowly onto Will, and stood there a moment smoothing the blankets out.

He rolled over, humming a light note as he wrapped himself up in all the blankets. She thought of how annoying that habit must be for Nico. Pepper never really noticed how tan the small adult was, and the expanse of freckles didn't stop on his face, and she smiled as she saw the amount of freckles on his hands that she never noticed before.

A hand reached out before she could stop it, and her fingers found their way into his hair. It was thicker than she originally thought, but the roots weren't dyed like she originally thought; the bright golden blond color was completely natural! And it was very soft as well.

She couldn't stop the warm smile that quickly became stuck on her face, and that warm feeling spread from her head to her toes. There was something nice about Will, be it his smile, attitude, friendly demeanor, that made him extremely approachable and lovable.

Of course, she _did_ notice the awful inferiority case he seemed to have when it came to comparing himself to others. She noticed how whenever he messed up something, he'd apologize profusely for what he had done, even if it was something so small that it didn't even matter. It happened often enough to worry her, but she didn't want to jump to any conclusions and possibly hurt the friendship she already had with him.

A murmur left his mouth and a small bead of sweat fell from his forehead. His face twisted up, marring the image of the exhausted happy doctor into one of a child having a nightmare. Pepper sat next to him and ran her hands through his hair and whispering words of encouragement, trying to rid him of the bad dreams.

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

He held the child close to his chest, tears streaming down his face, and Will plucked the beads from off the camper's neck and put them on his medic's belt to join an assortment of others. A sob wracked through him as he closed the eyes of the small boy, a son of Hermes who hadn't survived the second wave of attack.

The beads at his side jangled on his belt, a constant reminder of those lost because of him, and he slowly looked up. Will barely realized his body was smaller than normal, his hands not as large as usual, his hair not as long as it should be. Gods, there were just so… many.

Too many monsters, too many soldiers, too many injured. He cast a blessing over the kid's lifeless body before turning to the hill, where more monsters just kept coming. His knife slid easily in his hand as he watched a harpy headed right for him, and his eyes followed the way their wings' tendons stretched. At the last moment he sliced upward, cutting through the wing and hitting a lung in the same stroke. He kept walking to the next child while fighting to keep the tears down.

A daughter of Aphrodite. Not a born fighter, but she'd be damned if she wasn't going to help her home. She was younger than the last boy he'd failed with, only about ten and was facing death in the midst of a war she was never meant to see.

The fifteen year old gulped as he saw the blood pooling around her was growing larger, and he pressed his hands on the wound decorating her stomach. A hellhound bite, and a good one at that. He expected her to cry out as he put pressure on the hole in her stomach, but knew that when she didn't so much as register that his hands were there, she was going to die soon, no matter the amount of hymns.

Her eyes swung up lazily to meet his, and a sort of smile came to her face. He ignored the sounds of battle raging around him to give a halfhearted smile back. Kids didn't want tears as they died, they wanted reassurance. He knew that.

"I'm goin' ta see daddy now, right?" Will didn't trust his voice, so he only nodded. She leaned her head back toward the ground a gave out a breathy sigh, a content look on her face, "Good, that's… that's good…." Will was tired of seeing children trying to draw in that last breath to blood filled lungs. He loathed watching the small moment of panic flash before a child's eyes right before that realization set it that this was it, there was no turning back. He couldn't help but long for Nico, who at least helped calm Will down in telling him that he promised they'd be in Elysium, or Rebirth if they wished. But in this nightmare, in this memory, he wasn't there.

As he unhooked the beads from around her neck, a… feeling washed over him. The slick blood-covered beads slipped from his hands as the scene violently changed. Darkness swarmed his vision until the sensation of death was gone, the monsters and dying children gone, and the weight of the beads missing. Instead, a welcomed scene came into view.

Nico sat in the kitchen, making pancakes. Pepper, Tony, and Bruce were at the table laughing and enjoying themselves in the small apartment he and Nico owned. He could hear footsteps in the hall, and turned to see people he didn't know, and people he did.

The most familiar was Hawkeye, the coolest guy ever. Natasha, the new lady, was smiling behind him with a kid on her hip, one that had the same dusty blond hair as the famous archer. Steve Rogers laughed beside them, along with a strange woman in red and a floating alien-looking man. Lats was a large man wearing flannel with hair pulled back into a ponytail, grinning mischievously at the exchange. Two more children similar to Hawkeye followed along with a woman that kissed the archer's cheek lovingly.

Will was confused by the sudden shift in dream, the warmth he felt as Nico snuck up behind him and kissed the back of his neck, making the children squeal as the son of Hades chuckled at their disgust for the sudden PDA.

The Ghost King simply nuzzled the man's hair, "Is it alright if Clint takes Bea to the safehouse? The kids want a play date." Will's eyes just widened at the proposition. Was this a vision? Did they have a… a daughter?

PJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJPJ

Pepper kept stroking his hair, humming to herself as his expression slowly changed to one that was near tears to a much happier one. A smile came to her own face as she absentmindedly twirled the locks with her fingers as she watched the television. Instead of sitting back in the chair, she opted for being on the floor next to her doctor.

Eventually, his arm reached out and wrapped around her loosely, a faint smile lightly coming and going from his facial features. She liked it when he was happier, he _was_ her friend after all. They had seemed to almost be getting much closer lately, almost to that of a sibling relationship, or a mom-away-from-mom type of deal (although he seemed to mother her just as much as he mothered him).

A hum escaped her once, and another followed soon after, creating a soft tune for her to follow along to. Will snuggled deeper into her neck, but as soon as she was going to close her eyes, something kept it open.

A light.

Confused, at first she believed it to be Friday alerting her of someone coming into the room, but as she turned around, her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. There, in front of her, was a smiling Will with _glowing freckles and hair_.

She took a deep breath, watching the light flow from his hair outward, giving off the illusion that not only was his head glowing, but his hair seemed to be longer than it actually was. What the hell…?

He murmured again, reaching out blindly until she rested her hand in his hair again. She was surprised, but the hair wasn't a different temperature than it was a moment ago; it was the same cool soft feeling as before. She ran a finger over a glowing freckle and found the same result.

Pepper needed to tell Tony as soon as possible. This could be some weird disease, or Will could be a spy, or this could be some new metahuman, or, or -

No.

She wasn't going to tell anybody about this. Sure, Pepper decided that she'd talk with Will one on one about it (she was a CEO after all, she knew how to get information she wanted), but it wasn't her secret to share. Another soft childlike smile came to Will's face, and the light spread out a bit farther until it seemed to dance in the air like heatless fire.

Pepper touched one of the rays of light, surprised when her hand fell through the beam as it seemed to be almost solid and tangible, and Will made a sort of grunt noise before shifting on the couch. He grabbed the top of the blanket and curled himself over, burying his hair underneath the covers and nuzzling into the couch. The light didn't go away, and to Pepper, it looked almost like a child with a flashlight was hiding under the covers. She rested a soft hand where the light originated before hearing the soft whistle-like snores from Will become even.

Yes, she'd keep this secret for him. He cared for her, and she wasn't going to break his trust over some simple little power as controlling a bit of light. Her boyfriend _was_ Iron Man, after all. She knew how to keep secrets.

 **PJPJPJPJPJPJPJ**

 **Question time and then updates on me!**

 **What other fandoms are you in? - I'm a huge superhero buff, so anything of that nature. I very much enjoy Harry Potter and Danny Phantom, and am starting to watch Sherlock!  
**

 **(For those with other q's, I try to private message if you have an account! I'll answer all guest questions in the story, though).**

 **Update on me I suppose. Well, I went on my first date in about five years and now I'm pretty sure I'm in a relationship. Crazy. I have finals next week, a concert the week after, and graduation all in the same month so wooooooo. Almost done with high school, what a time to be alive.**

 **Hope this chapter met your expectations! Remember to review and ask questions if needed be! (I also love prompts; the reason this story is here is because someone sent me a story prompt and I loved it very very much). See y'all next time!**

 **Love, Hate**


End file.
